The Role of Naftifine HCl 2% Gel and Cream in Treating Moccasin Tinea Pedis.
In recent years, new topical antifungals have emerged for the treatment and management of tinea pedis, but all have been investigated and approved for the treatment of interdigital tinea pedis. Moccasin tinea pedis has not been recognized by governing bodies as a definable and treatable disease entity separate from interdigital tinea pedis at this time. Thus, creating randomized, controlled clinical trials to investigate moccasin tinea pedis is a challenge without an agreed upon definition of the disease state, treatment regimen, and treatment course. Considering systemic therapy issues and the lack of data from large trials demonstrating safety and efficacy in the topical management of this clinical presentation, an unmet need has been created for a topical antifungal agent that can treat moccasin tinea pedis. Naftifine 2% gel, an allylamine, was studied in a clinical trial that enrolled patients who had interdigital or both interdigital and moccasin-type tinea pedis. In the moccasin group, the primary efficacy endpoint of complete cure at week 2 (end of treatment) was 1.7% (gel) vs 0.9% (vehicle) and week 6 (four weeks post-treatment) was 19.2% (gel) vs 0.9% (vehicle). Naftifine 2% cream in combination with urea 39% also showed improvement in hyperkeratotic moccasin tinea pedis.