Drug repurposing a reality: from computers to the clinic

Modern drug discovery has reached a roadblock, suffering a diminished pipeline with escalating costs, development times and safety concerns coupled to a very low chance of success [1–3]. As seren dipitous discoveries dwindle, there is a need for a shift from traditional drug discovery to the concept of drug repositioning, where currently approved drugs are repurposed for new indications. The technology to evaluate or re-evaluate new diseases, targets, pathways and functions continues to evolve so that research-led repositioning rather than random screening is now a viable strategic model for rapid drug development. Indeed, the number of repositioning publications is growing rapidly with the promise of reduced drug development costs and timelines. Using drug repositioning, pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions have achieved a number of successes, and the rate of new indication approval is growing every year [4]. A major advantage of utilizing approved drugs, given their previously successful clinical trials, is the potential for fast entry into Phase II trials for new indications. Therefore, the benefits of increased success rate and decreased costs, resources and development time make drug repurposing an ideal process to kick start productivity in drug development.