Drug repositioning: a brief overview
Open accessAbstract
Objectives: Drug repositioning, that is, the use of a drug in an indication other than the one for which it was initially marketed, is a growing trend. Its origins lie mainly in the attrition experienced in recent years in the field of new drug discovery. Key findings: Despite some regulatory and economic challenges, drug repositioning offers many advantages, and a number of recent successes have confirmed both its public health benefits and its commercial value. The first examples of successful drug repositioning mainly came about through serendipity like acetylsalicylic acid, thalidomide, sildenafil or dimethylfumarate. Conclusion: The history of great-repositioned drugs has given some solutions to various pathologies. Serendipity is not yet useful to find repositioning drugs. Drug repositioning is of growing interest. Nowadays, a more rational approach to the identification of drug candidates for repositioning is possible, especially using data mining.
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Thalidomide was originally developed for morning sickness during pregnancy, repurposed in 1964 for an autoimmune complication of leprosy and again in 2006 for multiple myeloma.
“Originally developed to help with morning sickness during pregnancy, thalidomide was repurposed in 1964 for an autoimmune complication of leprosy and again in 2006 for multiple myeloma8.”
From A foundation model for clinician-centered drug repurposing (2024) · cites this paper as [8]
Most repurposed drugs are the result of serendipity, either observed through off-label prescriptions written by clinicians or discovered through patient experience.
“However, most repurposed drugs are the result of serendipity7,8—either observed through off-label prescriptions written by clinicians, as with gabapentin and bupropion8, or discovered through patient experience, as with sildenafil6.”
From A foundation model for clinician-centered drug repurposing (2024) · cites this paper as [8]
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- Authors
- Jourdan, J.-P., Bureau, R., Rochais, C., & Dallemagne, P.
- Affiliations
- Normandie Université (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Jourdan, Jean-Pierre
- Venue
- Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2020-09-01
- Volume
- 72
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1145-1151
- ISSN
- 0022-3573 (ISSN-L)
- 2042-7158
- PMC
- PMC7262062
- OpenAlex
- W3017154096
- Cited by
- 470
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 48 · 2025: 110 · 2024: 112 · 2023: 85 · 2022: 74 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 11
- FWCI
- 24.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Computational Drug Discovery Methods
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pharmaceutical studies and practices
- Keywords
- drug repurposing, drug attrition, drug discovery, serendipitous drug discovery, aspirin, thalidomide, sildenafil, dimethyl fumarate, regulatory challenges, commercial value
- MeSH terms
- Humans, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century, Drug Discovery, Data Mining, Drug Repositioning
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