Candida auris Infection Models

Candida auris (C. auris) is an emerging, multidrug-resistant yeast and one of the most urgent problems in medical mycology. First identified in 2009, it has spread rapidly through healthcare facilities worldwide, where it colonizes skin, persists on surfaces and equipment, and causes outbreaks that are difficult to contain. Invasive C. auris infection – bloodstream, wound, and deep-organ disease, most often in critically ill and immunocompromised patients – carries high mortality. The CDC classifies C. auris as an urgent antimicrobial-resistance threat, and the WHO places it in the critical-priority group of its 2022 Fungal Priority Pathogens List.

Three features make it distinctive. It is frequently resistant to fluconazole and often to additional antifungal classes, with some isolates resistant to all three major classes – azoles, echinocandins, and polyenes – leaving few or no treatment options. It colonizes patients persistently and survives on healthcare surfaces far better than most Candida, driving nosocomial transmission. And it is easily misidentified by conventional laboratory methods, which can delay recognition and infection control. Together these traits make C. auris a priority target for new antifungals, diagnostics, and decolonization strategies.

TransPharm Preclinical Solutions develops and validates custom preclinical infection models and maintains an on-site library of hundreds of validated pathogens, with characterized isolates sourced and validated to a program’s specifications. A C. auris efficacy study – model design, strain selection, immune status, and burden and survival endpoints – can be scoped to a sponsor’s requirements. Contact TransPharm Preclinical Solutions to discuss a study design suited to your candidate.