Sisignano M, Parnham MJ, Geisslinger G. Drug Repurposing for the Development of Novel Analgesics.
Trends Pharmacol Sci 2015;
37:172-183. [PMID:
26706620 DOI:
10.1016/j.tips.2015.11.006]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2015] [Revised: 11/16/2015] [Accepted: 11/17/2015] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Drug development consumes huge amounts of time and money and the search for novel analgesics, which are urgently required, is particularly difficult, having resulted in many setbacks in the past. Drug repurposing - the identification of new uses for existing drugs - is an alternative approach, which bypasses most of the time- and cost-consuming components of drug development. Recent, unexpected findings suggest a role for several existing drugs, such as minocycline, ceftriaxone, sivelestat, and pioglitazone, as novel analgesics in chronic and neuropathic pain states. Here, we discuss these findings as well as their proposed antihyperalgesic mechanisms and outline the merits of pathway-based repurposing screens, in combination with bioinformatics and novel cellular reprogramming techniques, for the identification of novel analgesics.
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