Recycling side-effects into clinical markers for drug repositioning

Abstract

Side-effects are the unintended consequence of therapeutic treatments, but they can also be seen as valuable read-outs of drug effects in humans; these effects are difficult to infer or predict from pre-clinical models. Indeed, some studies suggest that drugs with similar side-effect profiles may also share therapeutic properties through related mechanisms of action. A recent publication exploits this concept to systematically investigate new indications for already marketed drugs, and presents a strategy to get the most out of the tiny portion of chemicals that have proved to be effective and safe. © 2012 BioMed Central Ltd.