Drug repurposing

Besides their enormous popularity as common household names, and pioneering efforts in opening up and capturing huge new markets of their respective sectors – erectile dysfunction and wrinkle reduction, they both are old drugs that found a new lease of life. Viagra was initially developed and used to treat heart arrhythmia, but in a serendipitous situation was observed by a physician to have effect on a patient’s erectile function, and the rest became history. The drug was repurposed to treat that condition by the maker Pfizer and had gone on to earn billions. Botox followed a very similar path, was initially developed to treat muscle spasm, and again was serendipitously observed to have effects on frown line wrinkle reduction, and was consequently repurposed for cosmetic use, and had gone on to earn billions. It’s projected to bring in $4 billion a year by 2020.

The foundation of such enormous commercial success contrasts starkly to the prohibitive expenses in developing new compounds to market. The process of repurposing existing drugs into new indications is the most effective ways for drug development with potential astronomical rates of return on investment.