David Nix, PharmD
Associate Professor, Pharmacy Practice and Science
Arizonans of both the canine and human variety may have cause to celebrate depending on the results of David Nix’s work related to the unique desert disease, valley fever.
Nix received funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for clinical trials on nikkomycin Z, a valley fever drug The University of Arizona's colleges of pharmacy and medicine, Valley Fever Center for Excellence and BIO5 Institute have been working on together.
"Nikkomycin Z has potential to advance our ability to treat valley fever, a disease in which more than 60 percent of cases occur in Arizona," Nix says. "We extend gratitude to the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the FDA, the New York-based JT Tai and Co. Foundation, and others for making our progress in nikkomycin Z development possible."
Nix has been working on nikkomycin Z with John Galgiani, director of the UA Valley Fever Center, and Susan Hoover, assistant professor of clinical medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases.
Another of Nix’s research interests is with problems related to treating bacterial infections.
“Most of my work has been to contribute small pieces of a very large puzzle involving treatment of bacterial infectious diseases,” says Nix, who was recognized as a leading edge researcher with Galgiani at the 2008 UA Innovation Day for translational research with a prospect of commercialization. “I have played a role in bringing new antibiotics to the market and providing new information to refine the use of these drugs.”
When he’s not in the medical center or lab, Nix enjoys woodworking, attending live performances and spending time with his wife and two children, Annabeth, 8, and Andy, 6.