Development of Phytomedicines as Novel Antimalarial Lead Molecules: Progress towards Successful Antimalarial Drug Discovery

Abstract

Among numerous life-threatening infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS, TB, NTDs and EIDs), malaria continues to be the deadliest parasitic disease caused by Plasmodium protozoa transmitted by an infective female Anopheles mosquito. Plasmodium falciparum, the potentially fatal malaria parasite, is believed to be responsible for most of the morbidities and mortalities associated with malaria infections. Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) are currently considered to be the frontline therapy against malaria caused by P. falciparum. Despite significant progresses in antimalarial drug discovery, the control and prevention of malaria is still a challenging task. It is primarily because of the reduced clinical efficacy of existing antimalarial therapies including ACTs due to the widespread emergence of drug-resistant strains of malaria parasites, especially P. falciparum. It is, therefore, necessary to discover and develop novel drug candidates and/or alternative therapies for the treatment as well as prevention of resistant malaria. In this chapter, the potential of phytomedicines as natural sources of novel antimalarial lead molecules/ drugs with recent advances in phytomedicine-based antimalarial drug discovery has been reviewed.