Methods for the recovery and purification of polyene antifungals

Despite the development of newer antifungal drugs, the polyene antifungals continue to be the most potent broad-spectrum fungicides available for clinical use. The incidence and severity of fungal infections are on the rise, underscoring the need for new and more effective antifungal drugs. Thus, the search for new polyene antifungals is ongoing. The limited solubility, polymorphic character, and inherent chemical instability of these compounds make their economical recovery and purification from mass culture challenging problems in biotechnology. This article provides a comprehensive review of the methods that have been developed for the recovery and purification of amphotericin B and nystatin, the two most important polyenes currently in clinical use.