Therapeutic switching in leishmania chemotherapy: a distinct approach towards unsatisfied treatment needs

Current drugs for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis are inadequate. No novel compound is in the pipeline. Since economic returns on developing a new drug for neglected disease, leishmaniasis is so low that therapeutic switching represents the only realistic strategy. It refers to “alternative...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of parasitic diseases 2011-10, Vol.35 (2), p.104-112
Main Authors: Shakya, Nishi, Bajpai, Preeti, Gupta, Suman
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Infectious Diseases
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Review
Review Article
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Current drugs for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis are inadequate. No novel compound is in the pipeline. Since economic returns on developing a new drug for neglected disease, leishmaniasis is so low that therapeutic switching represents the only realistic strategy. It refers to “alternative drug use” discoveries which differ from the original intent of the drug. Amphotericin B, paromomycin, miltefosine and many other drugs are very successful examples of “new drugs from old”. This article reviews the discovery, growth and current status of these drugs and concluded that the potential of this approach (therapeutic switching) may use in the development of new antileishmanials in future also.
ISSN:0971-7196
0975-0703
DOI:10.1007/s12639-011-0040-9