Lenocta (sodium stibogluconate) / VioQuest - LARVOL DELTA

A pilot study evaluating the tolerability and effectiveness of miltefosine and sodium stibogluconate for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (PubMed, Trop Med Health) - "SSG was effective by both routes, but partially supervised MF was ineffective. More work is needed to determine factors affecting MF effectiveness against L. tropica in Kandahar. Clinical trial number The clinical trial number is TCTR20180710007, dated 10/07/2018."

Journal • Acute Kidney Injury • Dermatology • Infectious Disease • Inflammation • Nephrology • Renal Disease

Diagnosis of localized cutaneous leishmaniasis and treatment outcomes following carbon dioxide cryotherapy performed by health centre staff: A pilot implementation study in Ethiopia. (PubMed, PLOS Glob Public Health) - "The current standard of care, pentavalent sodium stibogluconate is only administered in specialist centres, has limited effectiveness and is associated with severe adverse effects...CO2 cryotherapy was safe and efficacious when administered by trained staff. A training programme to facilitate CO2 cryotherapy appears to be a feasible approach to decentralizing CL diagnosis and treatment to primary healthcare facilities in endemic areas of Ethiopia."

Journal • Cervical Cancer • Dermatology • Gynecology • Infectious Disease

From visceral to visible: A systematic review and meta-analysis of post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis incidence, risk factors, and treatment outcomes in Eastern Africa. (PubMed, PLoS Negl Trop Dis) - "PKDL remains a significant post-treatment complication in Eastern Africa, with treatment regimen as the most critical modifiable risk factor. MF + PM shows promise as a preferred first-line PKDL therapy. Standardized surveillance and multicountry prospective studies are urgently needed to support regional elimination goals."

Journal • Retrospective data • Human Immunodeficiency Virus • Infectious Disease

Quantitative Analysis of the Intracellular Efficacy of Conventional Antileishmanial Drugs Against Leishmania tropica: A Translational Approach Using the THP-1 Macrophage-Amastigote Model. (PubMed, Turkiye Parazitol Derg) - "Intracellular susceptibility to five conventional drugs (amphotericin B, miltefosine, pentamidine, sodium stibogluconate, and meglumine antimoniate) was evaluated by PRTA through luminometric quantification (CellTiter-Glo®) of transformed promastigotes, with microscopic enumeration of amastigotes in Giemsa-stained slides used for validation...Luminometric analysis of transformed promastigotes provides accuracy comparable to that of microscopic enumeration of intracellular amastigotes, while being more efficient in time, labor, and resources. By enabling functional assessment of parasite metabolism, supporting high-throughput and automation with low operator dependency, this standardized method represents a reliable, scalable, and translationally relevant platform with strong clinical predictive value, particularly for species-specific models such as L. tropica."

Journal

Visceral Leishmaniasis Masquerading as Autoimmune Disease Flare in a Non-Endemic Area: Diagnostic Challenges and the Role of Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing. (PubMed, Int J Infect Dis) - "We report a 57-year-old woman from Beijing, China, with a 2-year history of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren syndrome on long-term hydroxychloroquine and methylprednisolone...Following antileishmanial therapy with sodium stibogluconate, systemic symptoms resolved, blood counts recovered, and the limb hyperpigmentation faded substantially. In immunosuppressed patients living in non-endemic areas, VL should be considered when fever, splenomegaly, and cytopenias cannot be fully explained by autoimmune activity. tNGS can deliver rapid pathogen identification when epidemiological clues are absent."

Biomarker • Journal • Next-generation sequencing • Anorexia • Hematological Disorders • Immunology • Infectious Disease • Inflammatory Arthritis • Lupus • Sjogren's Syndrome • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Central Sri Lanka: Epidemiology, Clinical Spectrum, Diagnosis and Management at a Tertiary Care Hospital (EADV-Sp 2026) - "Treatment modalities included intralesional sodium stibogluconate (45%), topical metronidazole (16%), intralesional metronidazole (8%), cryotherapy (4%), and combination regimens incorporating sodium stibogluconate or itraconazole. Intralesional therapies, especially sodium stibogluconate and metronidazole, were effective and well tolerated. Strengthening regional surveillance, improving access to early diagnosis, and promoting timely local treatment may reduce disease morbidity and transmission."

Clinical • Dermatology • Infectious Disease • Inflammation

Visceral Leishmaniasis in Somalia: Diagnosis and Management of a Classic Case in a Resource-Limited Endemic Setting. (PubMed, Clin Case Rep) - "The patient was treated according to WHO regional guidelines with Sodium Stibogluconate (SSG, 20 mg/kg/day) and Paromomycin (PM, 15 mg/kg/day) for 17 days...This case highlights the classic presentation of VL in a fragile setting and underscores the critical role of RDTs where parasitological confirmation is unavailable. It demonstrates the feasibility of the WHO-recommended SSG+PM combination therapy despite systemic challenges."

Journal • Anorexia • Hematological Disorders • Infectious Disease • Malaria • Pulmonary Disease • Respiratory Diseases • Thrombocytopenia • Tuberculosis

Clinical Characteristics and Management of Four Cases of Visceral Leishmaniasis-Associated Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis. (PubMed, Am J Trop Med Hyg) - "For VL-associated HLH, sodium stibogluconate as targeted therapy rapidly controls HLH, facilitates immunosuppression withdrawal, and significantly improves patient outcomes. White blood cell count, HGB level, PLT count, and lactate dehydrogenase level may serve as critical prognostic biomarkers for VL-associated HLH."

Journal • Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis • Immunology • Infectious Disease • Oncology • Pediatrics • Rare Diseases • IL10 • IL2RA • IL6 • TNFA

In Vitro, In Silico, and Scanning Electron Microscopy Study of Anti-leishmanial Efficacy of New Synthetic 3-Imidazolyl Flavan Fxime on Leishmania tropica. (PubMed, Infect Disord Drug Targets) - "The results demonstrated notable anti-leishmanial effects of IFO against Leishmania tropica, suggesting it may be considered a potent therapeutic agent."

Journal • Preclinical • Dermatology • Infectious Disease

Adverse events of systemic sodium stibogluconate treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis: single-centre retrospective study from Ethiopia (ESCMID Global 2026) - No abstract available

Adverse events • Retrospective data • Dermatology • Infectious Disease

Comparative proteomic profiling reveals distinct molecular signatures of drug resistance in clinical isolates of Leishmania donovani. (PubMed, Parasitol Int) - "Leishmaniasis remains a major public health concern, with treatment options limited to amphotericin B (AmpB), sodium stibogluconate (SSG), miltefosine, and paromomycin...Quantitative RT-PCR of selected differentially expressed genes confirmed significant drug-resistant specific transcriptional modulation. These findings demonstrate that drug resistance in L. donovani is accompanied by extensive proteomic remodeling, emphasizing the need for comprehensive molecular studies to inform new therapeutic strategies against both drug-sensitive and drug-resistant leishmaniasis."

Journal • Infectious Disease

Study Comparing Several Drugs to Understand Which Work Against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) (clinicaltrials.gov) - P3 | N=900 | Not yet recruiting | Sponsor: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium

New P3 trial • Dermatology • Infectious Disease

Systematic modeling predicts synergistic and safe drug combinations for parasitic diseases. (PubMed, PLoS Negl Trop Dis) - "In vitro protoscolex culture experiments showed that the combination achieved a 100% inhibition rate at concentrations of 850 μM allicin and 36.3 μM sodium stibogluconate, significantly surpassing monotherapies. Overall, this work provides a novel computational tool and theoretical foundation for optimizing antiparasitic drug combinations and discovering potential therapeutic strategies."

Journal • Infectious Disease

Clinical and patient-reported outcomes of cutaneous leishmaniasis treatment in Ethiopia: A prospective, observational cohort study in two referral hospitals. (PubMed, Br J Dermatol) - "Current treatment strategies have low cure rates in Ethiopia. Well-designed randomized controlled trials are urgently needed to improve management of CL caused by L. aethiopica."

Journal • Observational data • Dermatology • Infectious Disease

Combination therapy success in refractory pediatric visceral leishmaniasis with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: A case report. (PubMed, Medicine (Baltimore)) - "This case highlights the importance of early recognition of HLH in VL, the role of multidisciplinary management, and the potential efficacy of combination therapy in refractory pediatric cases, particularly in resource-limited settings."

Journal • Hematological Disorders • Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis • Immunology • Infectious Disease • Pediatrics • Rare Diseases

NMR spectroscopic evidence that the antileishmanial drug sodium stibogluconate comprises one predominant molecular species. (PubMed, J Inorg Biochem) - "Further experiments on authentic samples and clinical preparations of sodium stibogluconate confirm that the primary product of the reaction of gluconate and [Sb(OH)6]- is the predominant antimony-containing component of the drug. The thermodynamic stability of this predominant species was assessed using a combination of 1H and 121Sb NMR spectroscopic measurements, which afforded a value of K = 1006 M-1 for its formation from gluconate and [Sb(OH)6]-."

Journal • Infectious Disease

Cinnamoyl aryl hydrazones as potent leishmanicidal agents: design, synthesis, and structure-activity relationships. (PubMed, Bioorg Med Chem Lett) - "Four compounds showed promising antileishmanial activity (from 1.27 to 19.53 μM), with two analogues displaying superior potency compared to some current first-line treatments, such as sodium stibogluconate and paromomycin...The compounds demonstrated favorable predicted ADME properties and were not flagged as aggregators. This research identifies cinnamoyl aryl hydrazones as a promising scaffold for leishmanicidal drug discovery, providing a rational basis for future optimization efforts."

Journal • Infectious Disease

LXE408 for Treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Ethiopia, a Proof of Concept Study (clinicaltrials.gov) - P2 | N=52 | Completed | Sponsor: Drugs for Neglected Diseases | Active, not recruiting ➔ Completed

Trial completion • Infectious Disease

Dosing and safety of amphotericin B deoxycholate in paediatric American cutaneous leishmaniasis in Peru: a case series. (PubMed, BMC Infect Dis) - "Intravenous amphotericin B deoxycholate (AmB-d) is an effective and well-tolerated second-line treatment for paediatric American CL unresponsive to Sb5+ treatment. Despite the need for high cumulative doses, prolonged treatment durations, and frequent AEs, side effects were mild to moderate, transient, and did not lead to treatment discontinuation."

Journal • Anorexia • Dermatology • Infectious Disease • Pediatrics

Insights into genetic heterogeneity and drug resistance in Leishmania donovani of the Indian sub-continent from genomic data. (PubMed, Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek) - "Further, ATP-binding cassette family, Amastin-like surface proteins, A2 genes, amino acid permeases, heat shock 70-related protein 1, mitochondrial precursor, putative, partial and sodium stibogluconate resistance protein, putative proteins were those that exhibited the maximum number of mutations amid all the analyzed samples...Most of these proteins are involved in the virulence and drug resistant mechanism (like transporter proteins). The present study provides the possible candidates which can be targeted to disarm the virulence of the protozoan and drug candidates for therapeutic interventions."

Heterogeneity • Journal • Infectious Disease

Surgical management as initial treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis: An example using a case of Leishmania panamensis infection. (PubMed, IDCases) - "The cutaneous form typically presents as chronic granulomatous papules or plaques on the face, arms, or legs, which may be nodular or ulcerative and can persist for years, often leaving disfiguring scars1.Treatment generally involves systemic antimonials such as sodium stibogluconate or alternative agents including pentamidine, amphotericin B, and paromomycin2-4. Surgical management is typically reserved for cosmetically sensitive areas or refractory lesions5-6. We present a case of L. panamensis infection with a large ulcerated plaque that progressed despite initial surgical intervention, ultimately requiring systemic antimicrobial therapy7."

Journal • Dermatology • Infectious Disease

The effect of treatment with a non-ionic surfactant vesicular formulation of sodium stibogluconate on host immune responses and serum metabolites in a murine model of Leishmania donovani. (PubMed, Front Immunol) - "Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), caused by Leishmania donovani, is associated with parasite-induced immunological and physiological changes that ensure the survival of amastigotes within the host. Additionally, glycine and ribitol show promise as immune correlates for antiparasitic therapies. These findings highlight the diagnostic and prognostic potential of serum-derived metabolites in monitoring host immune responses to VL and treatment."

Biomarker • Journal • Preclinical • Infectious Disease • CD4 • CD8 • IFNG • IL10 • IL12A • IL4 • TGFB1

Ciprofloxacin Intralesional Injection for the Treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Compared to Sodium Stibogluconate (clinicaltrials.gov) - P2 | N=80 | Recruiting | Sponsor: Al-Mustafa University College | Trial completion date: May 2025 ➔ Nov 2025 | Trial primary completion date: May 2025 ➔ Nov 2025

Trial completion date • Trial primary completion date • Dermatology • Infectious Disease

Immunohistochemical Characterisation of Innate Immune Cellular Responses in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Caused by Leishmania donovani. (PubMed, Trop Med Int Health) - "Our findings suggest that early innate immune responses, particularly M1 macrophage polarisation, keratinocyte activation, and Langerhans cell involvement, contribute to treatment success in Sri Lankan cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by L. donovani, highlighting localised mechanisms of protective immunity."

Journal • Dermatology • Infectious Disease • CD163 • CD1a • CD68 • PTPRC • SPP1

A Five-Year Review of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Cases and the Rare Need for Systemic Treatment: A Case Report (EADV 2025) - "Most cases of leishmaniasis can be managed with intralesional injections, an area in which we have considerable experience (Figure 3). However, when indicated, systemic treatment should be initiated. Potential serious side effects, such as cardiac arrhythmia and pancreatitis, make patient selection and treatment follow-up critical."

Case report • Clinical • Review • Cardiovascular • Dermatology • Infectious Disease • Pancreatitis