Miltefosine: a breakthrough in treatment of leishmaniasis

The emergence of leishmaniasis strains resistant to pentavalent antimonials and the growing incidence of leishmaniasis among AIDS patients have made the availability of an oral agent extremely important for management of this disease. Miltefosine (hexadecylphosphocholine), an alkylphosphocholine, is an oral antiprotozoal drug that has recently been hailed as the first oral drug for the treatment of leishmaniasis, with the added advantage of being effective in patients, who had not responded to the standard antimonial drugs. It was initially developed as an oral drug for the treatment of cancer. Present article is an attempt to review different pharmacodyanamic, pharmacokinetic and therapeutic aspects of this new drug