Liposomal amphotericin B in the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis.

A case of visceral leishmaniasis unresponsive to several course of treatment with standard drugs, was successfully cured by a 21 day course (50 mg/day) of liposomal amphotericin B (AmBisome, Vestar Inc.). The efficacy of the AmBisome formulation is supported by experimental studies on Leishmania donovani infected BALB/c mice where ED50 values of AmBisome and conventional amphotericin B were 0.15-0.25 and 0.95-4.9 mg/kg, respectively. A lack of toxicity of the AmBisome formulation was noted in both studies.