**Recent Advances in Antimalarial Drug Discovery — Challenges and Opportunities**

Chiranjeev Sharma and Satish Kumar Awasthi

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/61191

#### **Abstract**

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Malaria drug discovery is a challenging and difficult task due to the unavailability of the vaccine and lack of newer drugs. The most potent artemisinin and its deriva‐ tives, widely used in combination therapies for curing malaria worldwide are also now falling to resistance in some parts of the world. Thus, to combat malaria, new drugs possessing high therapeutic value, minimal toxicity, rapid efficacy and low cost are urgently needed. In this chapter, we will provide an integrated overview on the challenges and opportunities in malaria drug discovery with more emphasis on synthesis of peroxidic antimalarials.

**Keywords:** Natural Products, Quinine, Chloroquine, Artemisinin, Trioxane, Tet‐ raoxane, Malaria, Antimalarials
