Treatment of tinea versicolor with a new antifungal agent, ciclopirox olamine cream 1%.

Two randomized, double-blind, parallel-group studies, each conducted at five medical centers, assessed the efficacy and safety of a new antifungal agent, ciclopirox olamine cream 1%, in patients with tinea versicolor. In one study, the antifungal agent was compared with its cream vehicle; in the other, it was compared with another antifungal compound, 1% clotrimazole cream. In both studies, treatments were applied twice daily for 14 days. Results with ciclopirox olamine cream were significantly better (P less than 0.05) than those with the vehicle alone after one and two weeks of therapy and at one and two weeks posttherapy. After two weeks of treatment, 49% of the 73 patients treated with the antifungal cream were clinically and mycologically cured, whereas only 24% of the 72 patients using the vehicle were similarly cured (P less than 0.001). The clinical cure rate with ciclopirox olamine cream also was significantly better (P less than 0.05) than that with clotrimazole cream. After two weeks of treatment, 77% of the patients treated with ciclopirox olamine, compared with 45% of those treated with clotrimazole, had both clinical and mycological cures (P less than or equal to 0.001). Fourteen days posttreatment, the proportion of patients with a combined response was still greater in the ciclopirox olamine group (86%) than in the clotrimazole group (73%). No side effects were observed in any treatment group.