Development of Phytomedicines as Novel Antimalarial Lead Molecules: Progress towards Successful Antimalarial Drug Discovery

Abstract

Among numerous life-threatening infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS, TB, NTDs and EIDs), malaria continues to be the deadliest parasitic disease caused by Plasmodium protozoa transmitted by an infective female Anopheles mosquito. Plasmodium falciparum, the potentially fatal malaria parasite, is believed to be responsible for most of the morbidities and mortalities associated with malaria infections. Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) are currently considered to be the frontline therapy against malaria caused by P. falciparum. Despite significant progresses in antimalarial drug discovery, the control and prevention of malaria is still a challenging task. It is primarily because of the reduced clinical efficacy of existing antimalarial therapies including ACTs due to the widespread emergence of drug-resistant strains of malaria parasites, especially P. falciparum. It is, therefore, necessary to discover and develop novel drug candidates and/or alternative therapies for the treatment as well as prevention of resistant malaria. In this chapter, the potential of phytomedicines as natural sources of novel antimalarial lead molecules/ drugs with recent advances in phytomedicine-based antimalarial drug discovery has been reviewed.

Synthesis, antileishmanial, antimalarial evaluation and molecular docking study of some hydrazine-coupled pyrazole derivatives

“…Despite the global healthcare importance of leishmaniasis and malaria, there are only a few drugs often deployed to treat them in the clinical setting. Ironically, multiple reports revealed that the efficacy of the existing antileishmanial and antimalarial drugs is often conceded due to suboptimal treatment outcomes and the advent of drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum [ 5 – 11 ] which is responsible for most of the mortality and morbidity associated with malaria [ 12 – 14 ]. Thus, the discovery of new antileishmanial and antimalarial agents with desirable therapeutic efficacy and tolerable side effects is highly demanded to treat infections caused by leishmaniasis and malaria [ 15 – 17 ].…”