FDA-approved imidazole- and benzimidazole-based drugs: An update

Imidazole and benzimidazole scaffolds belong to heterocyclic scaffolds and are privileged substances in medicinal chemistry. These two substances are related to pharmacology. The reason for this is that they have unique physical and chemical properties and can form hydrogen bonds in many ways, and they have outstanding performance in bioisostere. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been able to regulate a series of pharmaceutical agents, and the clinical significance of these heterocyclic compounds is self-evident, which can be used in many fields such as cardiology, gastroenterology, oncology and neurology. This review analyzes the development of FDA-approved drugs from 2013 to 2025, and focuses on the synthesis of such drugs and the performance of such drugs through the analysis of the characteristics of such drugs and the collection of pharmacological data, in order to provide reference for chemical researchers to develop next-generation small molecule drugs.