{"title":"Anti-leishmanial therapies: overcoming current challenges with emerging therapies.","authors":"Shyam Sundar, Prasoon Madhukar, Rajiv Kumar","doi":"10.1080/14787210.2024.2438627","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Leishmaniasis, including visceral, cutaneous, and mucocutaneous forms, present a major health challenge in tropical regions. Current antileishmanial medications has significant limitations, creating a critical need for novel therapies that are safe and cost-effective with a shorter duration of treatment.</p><p><strong>Areas covered: </strong>This review explores the critical aspects of existing antileishmanial therapy and targets for future therapeutic developments. It emphasizes the need for new treatment options due to drug resistance, low success rates, toxicity, and high prices associated with current medications. The different forms of leishmaniasis, their clinical manifestations, the challenges associated with their treatment and emerging treatment options are explored in detail.</p><p><strong>Expert opinion: </strong>The first anti-leishmanial drug pentavalent antimony (SbV) was invented more than 100 years back. Since then, this compound has been used for all forms of leishmaniasis worldwide. For more than 70-80 years after discovery of SbV, no new antileishmanial drugs were developed, reflecting the lack of interest from academia or pharma industry. All three new treatments (Amphotericin-B, paromomycin and miltefosine) which underwent the clinical trials were repurposed drugs. The current pipeline for antileishmanial drugs is empty, with LXE 408 being the only potential drug reaching phase II clinical trial.</p>","PeriodicalId":12213,"journal":{"name":"Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14787210.2024.2438627","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Leishmaniasis, including visceral, cutaneous, and mucocutaneous forms, present a major health challenge in tropical regions. Current antileishmanial medications has significant limitations, creating a critical need for novel therapies that are safe and cost-effective with a shorter duration of treatment.
Areas covered: This review explores the critical aspects of existing antileishmanial therapy and targets for future therapeutic developments. It emphasizes the need for new treatment options due to drug resistance, low success rates, toxicity, and high prices associated with current medications. The different forms of leishmaniasis, their clinical manifestations, the challenges associated with their treatment and emerging treatment options are explored in detail.
Expert opinion: The first anti-leishmanial drug pentavalent antimony (SbV) was invented more than 100 years back. Since then, this compound has been used for all forms of leishmaniasis worldwide. For more than 70-80 years after discovery of SbV, no new antileishmanial drugs were developed, reflecting the lack of interest from academia or pharma industry. All three new treatments (Amphotericin-B, paromomycin and miltefosine) which underwent the clinical trials were repurposed drugs. The current pipeline for antileishmanial drugs is empty, with LXE 408 being the only potential drug reaching phase II clinical trial.
期刊介绍:
Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy (ISSN 1478-7210) provides expert reviews on therapeutics and diagnostics in the treatment of infectious disease. Coverage includes antibiotics, drug resistance, drug therapy, infectious disease medicine, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral approaches, and diagnostic tests.