Jul 15 2008
Topical Nail Fungus Treatment
A new topical nail solution is being studied for it’s effectiveness in treating onychomycosis, also known as nail fungus. Toenail fungus is extremely difficult to treat and despite there being a number of medications on the market, many topical medications are not very effective. Terbinafine HCl 10% nail solution (TNS) is currently ending phase III of clinical trials and looking for government approval for patient use. Terbinafine is most commonly known as Lamisil® and is the most popular and effective oral antifungal medication on the market currently.
A few recent studies have shown the safety and effectiveness of 10% terbinafine solution. In one study, 120 patients were divided into treatment groups. One group used a placebo, one group used ciclopirox 8% and one group 10% terbinafine solution. After 12 weeks of daily use, 95% of the patients using 10% terbinafine showed mycological success. This means that when nail samples were taken at the end of the 12 weeks and send to the lab and evaluated for fungus, 95% of the cultures and lab studies (KOH) came back negative for fungus. This was twice as effective as the placebo group.
Another study looked at the concentration levels of terbinafine in the nails and the blood after a month of treatment in comparison to a placebo. They found that terbinafine levels peaked in the nails at 14 days and reached levels high enough for antifungal activity. They also found that the mean plasma concentration (blood level) after 28 days was 3188-times lower than that after a single dose of the terbinafine tablet. This means that there is negligible systemic exposure to terbinafine topical solution.
More information and pictures on toenail fungus.
- Aditya Gupta, MD, PhD, MBA1, Jeffrey Robbins, MD2 and William Pfister, Ph.D. Terbinafine Nail Solution Is Highly Effective for The Treatment Of Onychomycosis: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Dose-Finding Clinical Trial.
- Jonathan Dosik1, J John Goodman, Charles Griff , Jeffrey Robbins, and William Pfister. Pharmacokinetics of Terbinafine HCl Nail Solution in Patients with Onychomycosis .