Investigational drugs for visceral leishmaniasis

Introduction: The armamentarium of antileishmanial drugs is small. It is further being threatened by the development of resistance and decreasing sensitivity to the available drugs. The development of newer drugs is sorely needed. Areas covered: The authors have based their review on a literature search performed using PubMed. The article specifically looks at investigational drugs, which have demonstrated, at the very least, in vitro and in vivo activities against the leishmania species that cause visceral leishmaniasis. Specifically, the authors review the nitroimidazole compound fexinidazole, which is one of the few drugs which have reached Phase II trials. The article also discusses the R enantiomer of (S)-PA-824, which has shown good antileishmanial activity. Finally, the article also highlights the many novel delivery systems and oral formulations of amphotericin B, which are both cheap and less toxic and are currently under investigation. Expert opinion: Very few new drugs have reached the clinic for this neglected tropical disease and there is an urgent need for new efficacious therapeutics. The authors believe that support from public-private partnerships would help in enabling the prompt development of drug candidates that could potentially make the clinic.