Shortcuts to schistosomiasis drug discovery: The state-of-the-art

Abstract The exclusive use of praziquantel for the treatment of schistosomiasis has raised concerns about the urgency of new antischistosomal therapies. Nonetheless, pharmaceutical industry still underinvests in new antischistosomal drugs and current drug discovery approaches present technical limitations. So, the demand for innovative antischistosomal drug discovery approaches gain significance in scientific community. In this scenario, the “automation of drug discovery” bears the promise of making better decisions faster and increasing hit rates in the process. Herein, we focus on the current development in antischistosomal lead discovery, specifically referring to the use of automated whole-organism and target-based screens, fragment-based drug design, and cheminformatics-based decision support. We highlight the strengths and pitfalls of each of the above-mentioned approaches and suggest possible roadmaps toward the integration of several strategies, which may contribute to optimizing research outputs and led to more successful and cost-effective drug discovery endeavors.