State-of-the-art Review on the Antiparasitic Activity of Benzimidazole-based Derivatives: Facing Malaria, Leishmaniasis, and Trypanosomiasis

Protozoan parasites represent a significant risk for public health worldwide, afflicting particularly people in more vulnerable categories and cause large morbidity and heavy economic impact. Traditional drugs are limited by their toxicity, low efficacy, route of administration, and cost, reflecting their low priority in global health management. Moreover, the drug resistance phenomenon threatens the positive therapy outcome. This scenario claims the need of addressing more adequate therapies. Among the diverse strategies implemented, the medicinal chemistry efforts have also focused their attention on the benzimidazole nucleus as a promising pharmacophore for the generation of new drug candidates. Hence, the present review provides a global insight into recent progress in benzimidazole-based derivatives drug discovery against important protozoan diseases, such as malaria, leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis. The more relevant chemical features and structure-activity relationship studies of these molecules are discussed for the purpose of paving the way towards the development of more viable drugs for the treatment of these parasitic infections.