Recently, the research team led by Professor Xu Defeng in Changzhou University developed a new type of CYP51/HDAC dual target inhibitors in collaboration with a medical university in Shanghai for the treatment of tropical drug-resisitant Candida and Cryptococcus neoformans infections. A research paper was published online in European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

In recent years, the case of IFIs have increased significantly. However, there are few types of drugs used to treat IFIs in clinical practice, with limited efficacy and increasingly serious drug resistance (especially azole drugs). In order to slove this problem, Xu's team mixed Triazole, Phenyl (CYP51 inhibitors) and Linker, ZBG (HDAC inhibitors) together and developed CYP51/HDAC dual inhibitors. They also found that the new type of inhibitors significantly inhibited the production of virulence factor of tropical drug-resistant Candida and Cryptococcus neoformans.