SCYNEXIS, Inc. announced multiple presentations highlighting data on its second-generation fungerp drug candidate, SCY-247, at the 12th Congress on Trends in Medical Mycology (TIMM-12) taking place September 19-22, 2025, in Bilbao, Spain. The six presentations demonstrate SCY-247's potential to address critical unmet needs in treating drug-resistant fungal infections, particularly Candida auris, which has emerged as a global health threat.
Breakthrough Activity Against Drug-Resistant C. auris
The most significant presentation will feature an oral session demonstrating SCY-247's in vitro activity against C. auris strains, including isolates with mutations commonly associated with echinocandin resistance. The study tested SCY-247 against 65 unique FKS1-resistant C. auris isolates representing all five known clades (I, II, III, IV, and V). According to the research, SCY-247 consistently demonstrated lower minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) compared to echinocandins anidulafungin and micafungin against isolates with commonly found FKS1 resistance mutations.
"Our six presentations at this year's TIMM-12 Congress highlight the significant potential of SCY-247 to combat difficult, resistant Candida infections, including C. auris," said David Angulo, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of SCYNEXIS. "We are developing SCY-247 to specifically address one of the most serious and challenging issues in infectious disease, and the data from these presentations provide highly encouraging evidence that SCY-247 has the potential to address these difficult-to-treat and life-threatening fungal infections."
Addressing the Growing C. auris Crisis
The urgency of developing new antifungal treatments is underscored by alarming epidemiological trends. C. auris is recognized as a global health threat by both the CDC and WHO, with the fungus exhibiting a 200% increase in incidence in the U.S. from 2019 to 2023. The New York-New Jersey metropolitan area remains a particular hotbed for multidrug- and pandrug-resistant C. auris strains.
In one study, researchers tested 300 C. auris isolates, mostly from the New York area, against SCY-247 and 10 other antifungal agents. The results showed that SCY-247 demonstrated potent activity against C. auris, including pandrug-resistant isolates that have proven challenging for existing therapies.
Broad-Spectrum Antifungal Activity
Beyond C. auris, the presentations will highlight SCY-247's activity against other problematic fungal pathogens. Research on Candida glabrata, a major cause of invasive candidiasis and WHO high-priority pathogen, showed that SCY-247 maintained in vitro activity against 29 echinocandin-resistant clinical strains. The compound also demonstrated in vivo efficacy in an invasive candidiasis mouse model caused by an echinocandin- and fluconazole-resistant C. glabrata strain.
Additional data will show SCY-247's uniform activity against Candida species with no indication of cross-resistance to echinocandins, based on three months of EUCAST MIC testing of 293 Candida isolates. The compound also exhibited activity against cryptic Aspergillus species, showing low minimum effective concentrations (MECs) against 48 clinical isolates.
Promising In Vivo Efficacy Data
Animal model studies provide encouraging evidence of SCY-247's therapeutic potential. In a murine model of C. auris infection, seven days of once or twice daily oral SCY-247 treatment resulted in significant reductions in kidney fungal burden in a dose-dependent fashion. Notably, similar activity was observed between once-daily (QD) and twice-daily (BID) dosing regimens, suggesting potential for convenient dosing schedules.
Clinical Development Timeline
SCYNEXIS anticipates reporting Phase 1 Single Ascending Dose/Multiple Ascending Dose (SAD/MAD) data for oral SCY-247 in Q3 2025, representing an important milestone in advancing this novel antifungal program. This trial will provide crucial safety and pharmacokinetic data to support further clinical development.
SCY-247 represents the second-generation compound from SCYNEXIS's proprietary fungerp antifungal platform. The first representative of this novel class, ibrexafungerp, has been licensed to GSK and received FDA approval as BREXAFEMME for vulvovaginal candidiasis treatment, with late-stage clinical investigation ongoing for life-threatening invasive fungal infections in hospitalized patients.
