Malarial proteinases: a review of the recent patent literature

Malaria remains one of the most serious diseases worldwide, and increasing and widespread resistance against available antimalarial therapeutics calls for the discovery and development of novel therapeutic strategies. Malarial proteinases represent an attractive and alternative drug target. The life cycle of the Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria depends on proteinolytic degradation of hemoglobin, and intervention in that process has been shown to be curative in animal models. The current progress towards novel malarial proteinase inhibitors, as documented in the patent literature, will be discussed in this review.