Antiparasitic

Types

Broad-spectrum

• Nitazoxanide

Antiprotozoals

Main article: Antiprotozoal

• Melarsoprol (for treatment of sleeping sickness caused by Trypanosoma brucei)
• Eflornithine (for sleeping sickness)
• Metronidazole (for vaginitis caused by Trichomonas)
• Tinidazole (for intestinal infections caused by Giardia lamblia)
• Miltefosine (for the treatment of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis, currently undergoing investigation for Chagas disease)

Antihelminthic

Main article: Antihelminthic

Antinematodes

• Mebendazole (for most nematode infections)
• Pyrantel pamoate (for most nematode infections)
• Thiabendazole (for roundworm infections)
• Diethylcarbamazine (for treatment of Lymphatic filariasis)
• Ivermectin (for prevention of river blindness)
• Fenbendazole

Anticestodes

• Niclosamide (for tapeworm infections)
• Praziquantel (for tapeworm infections)
• Albendazole (broad spectrum)

Antitrematodes

• Praziquantel

Antiamoebics

• Rifampin
• Amphotericin B

Antifungals

Main article: Antifungal

• Fumagillin (for microsporidiosis)

Medical uses

Antiparasitics treat parasitic diseases, which impact an estimated 2 billion people.

Administration

Antiparastics may be given via a variety of routes depending on the specific medication, including oral, topical, and intravenous.

Resistance to antiparasitics has been a growing concern, especially in veterinary medicine. The Egg hatch assay can be used to determine whether a parasite causing an infection has become resistant to standard drug treatments.

Drug development history

Early antiparasitics were ineffective, frequently toxic to patients, and difficult to administer due to the difficulty in distinguishing between the host and the parasite.

Between 1975 and 1999 only 13 of 1,300 new drugs were antiparasitics, which raised concerns that insufficient incentives existed to drive development of new treatments for diseases that disproportionately target low-income countries. This led to new public sector and public-private partnerships (PPPs), including investment by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Between 2000 and 2005, twenty new antiparasitic agents were developed or in development. Metal-containing compounds are the subject of another avenue of approach.

Research

In the last decades, triazolopyrimidines and their metal complexes have been looked at as an alternative drug to the existing commercial antimonials, searching for a decrease in side effects and the development of parasite drug resistance.

References

References

1. (2011). "Antiparasitic Therapy". Mayo Clin. Proc..
2. (2016). "A novel antiamoebic agent against Acanthamoeba sp. – A causative agent for eye keratitis infection". Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular Spectroscopy.
3. "ANTIPARASITICS". Purdue Research Foundation.
4. (2013). "Research perspective: potential role of nitazoxanide in ovarian cancer treatment. Old drug, new purpose?". Cancers (Basel).
5. (2004). "Nitazoxanide: a new broad spectrum antiparasitic agent". Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther.
6. (2006). "Nitazoxanide, a broad-spectrum thiazolide anti-infective agent for the treatment of gastrointestinal infections". Expert Opin Pharmacother.
7. (2007). "Nitazoxanide: A review of its use in the treatment of gastrointestinal infections". Drugs.
8. (June 2002). "Fumagillin treatment of intestinal microsporidiosis". N. Engl. J. Med..
9. (February 2009). "Microsporidiosis in solid organ transplant recipients: two Enterocytozoon bieneusi cases and review". Transpl Infect Dis.
10. Sargison, Neil. (2009-01-26). "Sheep Flock Health: A Planned Approach". John Wiley & Sons.
11. (September 2005). "Opportunities and Challenges in Antiparasitic Drug Discovery". Nature.
12. (2019-01-14). "Metal Compounds in the Development of Antiparasitic Agents: Rational Design from Basic Chemistry to the Clinic". Metal Ions in Life Sciences.
13. (2017). "Leishmanicidal and Trypanocidal Activity of Metal Complexes with 1,2,4-Triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines: Insights on their Therapeutic Potential against Leishmaniasis and Chagas Disease". Curr. Med. Chem..