Drug Repurposing in Oncology: Current Evidence and Future Direction

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pharmacology
• Drug Discovery

Background:

• Drug repurposing utilizes existing non-oncology drugs for cancer treatment.
• This approach offers a potentially low-cost and time-efficient alternative to novel drug development.
• It aims to provide more effective therapeutic options for cancer patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review non-oncology drugs with potential anticancer applications.
• To explore the evidence supporting drug repurposing in oncology.
• To discuss future directions in identifying and screening repurposed drugs.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of over 100 mechanistic and population-based studies.
• Identification of 10 non-oncology drugs with potential anticancer effects.
• Discussion of patient-derived tumor organoids for drug screening.

Main Results:

• Numerous existing drugs exhibit previously unrecognized anti-cancer effects or off-target activities.
• Combining mechanistic and population-based evidence is crucial for identifying viable repurposed drugs.
• Patient-derived tumor organoids enable in vitro screening due to cancer's heterogeneity.

Conclusions:

• Identified drugs show promise for repurposing in oncology.
• These repurposed drugs could serve as adjuvant therapies.
• The ultimate goal is to improve outcomes for cancer patients.