The Evolution of Drugs on Schistosoma Treatment: Looking to the Past to Improve the Future

Schistosomiasis is a devastating worldwide widespread tropical disease that currently affects more than 230 million people, making it an issue of great socioeconomic and public health importance. Unfortunatelly there is a single drug for the treatment of all forms of schistosomiasis, praziquantel, which was introduced in therapy in 1980. The article goes by antimony compounds, emetine, hydantoin, nitrofurans, lucanthone, hycanthone, oxamniquine derivatives and organophosphates until it finally gets to praziquantel derivatives. The intent of this review is to provide a panorama of drugs that were and are being used in human chemotherapy looking to the past to improve rational design drugs in the future. Not only clinical used compounds will be shown but also synthesized and tested compounds in vitro and in vivo in animal models which haven't yet to be used in humans. Prospects for drug discovery and vaccines to be used in the treatment and prevention of schistosomiasis, clinical trials, concerns about the resistance/decreased effectiveness of the treatment, and patent database will also be discussed. At the end of the review the reader will notice that much has been done but much still needs to be done yet.