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Updated: May 9, 2026

Drug Repurposing Hypothesis Generation Using the "RE:fine Drugs" System
05:10

Drug Repurposing Hypothesis Generation Using the "RE:fine Drugs" System

Published on: December 11, 2016

Cancer drug discovery by repurposing: teaching new tricks to old dogs

Subash C Gupta1, Bokyung Sung, Sahdeo Prasad

  • 1Cytokine Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.

Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
|August 10, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Repurposing existing non-cancer drugs offers a faster, cost-effective way to develop new cancer treatments. This approach leverages shared molecular pathways to identify novel anticancer activities from diverse drug classes.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Pharmacology
  • Drug Discovery

Background:

  • Traditional cancer drug development faces challenges including high costs, lengthy processes, and limited efficacy.
  • Identifying shared molecular pathways across diseases is crucial for novel therapeutic strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the repurposing of established non-cancer drugs for potential anticancer activity.
  • To highlight the advantages of drug repurposing in accelerating cancer therapeutic development.

Main Methods:

  • Review of scientific literature on drug repurposing for cancer.
  • Analysis of common molecular targets and pathways between non-cancer diseases and cancer.
  • Identification of drug classes originally developed for non-cancer indications with reported anticancer effects.

Main Results:

  • Numerous drug classes originally developed for conditions such as pain, inflammation, diabetes, and infections are being explored for cancer treatment.
  • Drug repurposing facilitates rapid advancement of therapeutic candidates into clinical trials.
  • Genomics, proteomics, and advanced screening technologies enable the identification of new uses for existing drugs.

Conclusions:

  • Drug repurposing presents a viable and efficient strategy to overcome limitations in conventional cancer drug development.
  • Exploring non-cancer drugs for anticancer properties can lead to accelerated clinical translation and improved patient outcomes.
  • The shared molecular basis of diseases supports the repurposing of diverse drug classes for oncology.
Keywords:
NF-κBSTAT3cancer drugsdrug repurposinginflammation

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