New Usages for Known Drug Molecules

Abstract

As the development of drugs becoming more and more expensive and complicated, it is appeared to be rather easy to find a new effect for present active molecules. There are some good examples such as aspirin. It has been re-proposed for cardiovascular system as an anticoagulant and a protectant against to arteriosclerosis. Sildenafil is an interesting example because it is phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor and it enhances blood vessel diameters. It has been re-proposed for pulmoner hypertension later and it has been found to be very effective and useful. Another good example is raloxifene. Although it has been initially proposed for the treatment of osteoporosis, it has been found to be effective on breast cancer cells. Therefore pros and cons of drug re-proposing and all these will be discussed with some examples from the literature. Key elements of drug re-proposing will be given and results will be discussed in this article.