Phenotypic Screens in Antimalarial Drug Discovery

Phenotypic high-throughput screens are a valuable tool for identifying new chemical compounds with antimalarial activity. Traditionally, these screens have focused solely on the symptomatic asexual blood stage of the parasite life cycle; however, to discover new medicines for malaria treatment and prevention, robust screening technologies against other parasite life-cycle stages are required. This review highlights recent advances and progress toward phenotypic screening methodologies over the past several years, with a focus on exoerythrocytic stage screens.

TrendsThe field of antimalarial drug discovery has seen a shift to phenotypic screening from target-based screening.The goal of achieving complete malaria eradication has prompted the development of new and higher-throughput screening methods to look for drugs that are active in exoerythrocytic and transmission stages.The success of high-throughput screening is founded on the implementation of robust, scalable, reproducible, and inexpensive assays.Phenotypic screens are a rich source not only for identifying potent drug candidates but also for discovering new potential drug targets.