Generic Drug Repurposing for Common Diseases: Proposal and Design of a Pull Mechanism

Background

As research and development (R&D) costs for novel drugs have increased, some view drug repurposing as a faster and cheaper option. Drug repurposing seeks to identify new indications through research on already-approved drugs. Estimates of the average cost of bringing a new drug to market range from $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion.1,2 Conducting clinical trials and getting a drug to market can take on average 10.5 years — often longer when discovery and preclinical phases are included.3 In contrast, research and marketing for repurposed drugs may cost around $300 million and can be completed in as few as three years.4,5 Drugs targeted for repurposing have demonstrated safety in people through clinical trials and have amassed substantial real-world evidence while on the market. The combination of evidence generation during clinical trials and in real-world settings establishes well-defined safety and efficacy profiles. Therefore, developers of repurposed drugs may bypass early stages of testing and instead focus on demonstrating efficacy for a new indication.

Continue reading here.

External Authors

Damope Fawole, Duke Global Health Institute

Coralei Neighbors, Duke Department of Population Health Sciences

Armand Zimmerman, Duke Global Health Institute