Econazole is an antifungal medication of the imidazole class.It was patented in 1968, and approved for medical use in 1974. Medical uses
Econazole is used as a cream to treat skin infections such as athletes foot, tinea, pityriasis versicolor, ringworm, and jock itch. It is also sold in Canada under the brand name Ecostatin as vaginal ovules to treat vaginal thrush. Econazole nitrate exhibits strong anti-feeding properties against the keratin-digesting common clothes moth Tineola bisselliella. Adverse effects
About  3% of patients treated with econazole nitrate cream reported side effects. The most common symptoms were burning, itching, redness (erythema), and one outbreak of a pruritic rash. Synthesis
Imidazoles devoid of the nitro group no longer have any antiprotozoal activity, however, such drugs are effective antifungal agents. Alkylation of imidazole (2) with bromoketone (1) prepared from o,p-dichloroacetophenone affords the displacement product (3). Reduction of the ketone with sodium borohydride gives the corresponding alcohol (4). Alkylation of the alkoxide from that alcohol with p-chlorobenzyl chloride leads to econazole (5); alkylation with o,p-dichlorobenzyl chloride gives miconazole. Society and culture
Brand names
It is sold under the brand names Spectrazole (United States) and Ecostatin (Canada), among others. It is a component of Pevisone, Ecoderm-TA and ECOSONE (econazole/triamcinolone). References
External links
"Econazole". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Other side effects include fever, trouble sleeping, peripheral neuropathy, and retinal detachment.Of note, the FDA issued several black box warnings concerning potential severe toxicities. These include:

Blood toxicities: neutropenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia
Impairment of fertility (based on animal studies only)
Fetal toxicities (based on animal studies only)
Mutagenesis and carcinogenesis (based on animal studies only)

Drug interactions
While not studied in people, it can be assumed that interactions will be similar as those with ganciclovir, since valganciclovir is converted into ganciclovir in the body. Zidovudine may decrease the concentration of ganciclovir, and together the drugs can cause anemia and neutropenia. Probenecid can increase the concentration of ganciclovir, which could increase the chances of ganciclovir toxicity. People with kidney problems could have an increase in both mycophenolate mofetil and ganciclovir concentrations when both drugs are taken together. Ganciclovir can also increase the concentration of didanosine. Mechanism of action
Valganciclovir is a prodrug for ganciclovir, which is a synthetic analog of 2′-deoxy-guanosine. Its structure is the same as ganciclovir, except for the addition of a L-valyl ester at the 5 end of the incomplete deoxyribose ring. The valine increases both the absorption of the drug in the intestines, as well as the bioavailability of the drug once it is absorbed. The L-valyl ester is cleaved by esterases in the intestines and the liver, leaving ganciclovir to be absorbed by the virus-infected cells.Ganciclovir is first phosphorylated to ganciclovir monophosphate by a viral thymidine kinase encoded by the cytomegalovirus (CMV) upon infection. Human cellular kinases further phosphorylate the molecule to create ganciclovir diphosphate, then ganciclovir triphosphate.