Recent progress in the development of anti-malarial quinolones

Malar J. 2014 Aug 30:13:339. doi: 10.1186/1475-2875-13-339.

Abstract

Available anti-malarial tools have over the ten-year period prior to 2012 dramatically reduced the number of fatalities due to malaria from one million to less than six-hundred and thirty thousand. Although fewer people now die from malaria, emerging resistance to the first-line anti-malarial drugs, namely artemisinins in combination with quinolines and arylmethanols, necessitates the urgent development of new anti-malarial drugs to curb the disease. The quinolones are a promising class of compounds, with some demonstrating potent in vitro activity against the malaria parasite. This review summarizes the progress made in the development of potential anti-malarial quinolones since 2008. The efficacy of these compounds against both asexual blood stages and other stages of the malaria parasite, the nature of putative targets, and a comparison of these properties with anti-malarial drugs currently in clinical use, are discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antimalarials / isolation & purification*
  • Antimalarials / pharmacology*
  • Drug Discovery / trends*
  • Humans
  • Quinolones / isolation & purification*
  • Quinolones / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Antimalarials
  • Quinolones