[6] It is a member of the class of antifungal drugs known as the echinocandins; its mechanism of action is by inhibition of (1→3)-β-D-glucan synthase, an enzyme important to the synthesis of the fungal cell wall.

[2] Anidulafungin significantly differs from other antifungals in that it undergoes chemical degradation to inactive forms at body pH and temperature.

[11][12][13] Anidulafungin inhibits glucan synthase, an enzyme important in the formation of (1→3)-β-D-glucan, a major fungal cell wall component.

The starting material is echinocandin B (a lipopeptide fermentation product of Aspergillus nidulans or the closely related species, A. rugulosus), which undergoes deacylation (cleavage of the linoleoyl side chain) by the action of a deacylase enzyme from the bacterium Actinoplanes utahensis;[15] in three subsequent synthetic steps, including a chemical reacylation, the antifungal drug anidulafungin[14][16] is synthesized.

Anidulafungin was originally discovered at Lilly laboratories by Turner and Debono and licensed to Vicuron Pharmaceuticals who submitted it to the FDA.