Anti-parasitic drugs improvement

Improving strategies for the use of traditional anti-parasitic drugs... 

Both mebendazole and albendazole are used in the long-term treatment of infections and an overall success rate of 97% has been obtained. Albendazole may be the preferred drug as it is cheaper and easier to take than mebendazole (Reuter et al., 2000). Using nitazoxanide with albendazole in a murine model suggests that there may be improved anti-parasitic activity (Stettler et al., 2004). 

Finally, the same approach has also been effective in malaria therapy (data not shown) indicative of the broad therapeutic potential of this macrolide conjugation strategy. Various anti-malarial drugs can be conjugated to the macrolide desosamine ring that in turn mediates their uptake into the parasite vacuole leading to improved overall efficacy in vivo. Examples using this approach include certain kinase inhibitors, and antimicrobial compounds as the small molecule payloads. 

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