Strategies in the drug discovery and development for leishmaniasis: immunomodulators, natural products, synthetic compounds, and drug repositioning

📖 The Scoop

Leishmaniases are a group of tropical diseases that affect millions of people worldwide. They are considered neglected diseases prevalent in emerging countries in Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia and still occurring in Mediterranean countries. There is no human vaccine available to prevent and control the disease infection. For the last 70 years, the available chemotherapy has been constituted by first-line (pentavalent antimonials) and second-line drugs (amphotericin B, pentamidine, paramomycin, and miltefosine). Its route of administration is difficult, the treatment is long, and its efficiency varies depending on the parasite species and clinical manifestations, which results in the emergence of resistant cases. Moreover, they present high toxicity to patients, and even some less toxic formulations available, are still expensive for the poorest countries’ vulnerable populations. This often leads to abandonment and failure of treatment. The medical-scientific community is facing difficulties to overcome these issues with new suitable therapies, and the identification of new drug targets. So, it means that efforts to identify new strategies must continue.

Genre: Science / General (fancy, right?)