Efinaconazole is an antifungal agent used to treat onychomycosis, a fungal infection of the nail. Efinaconazole inhibits lanosterol 14-alpha demethylase in the endoplasmic reticulum of fungal cells. Lanosterol 14-alpha demethylase is the enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of 4,4'-dimethyl cholesta-8,14,24-triene-3-beta-ol from lanosterol. With this enzyme inhibited ergosterol synthesis cannot occur which causes a significant low concentration of ergosterol in the fungal cell. Ergosterol is essential in maintaining membrane integrity in fungi. Without ergosterol, the fungus cell cannot synthesize membranes thereby increasing fluidity and preventing growth of new cells. This leads to cell lysis which causes it to collapse and die.

Efinaconazole Pathway References