Drug Repurposing for Alzheimer's Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Disorders

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2025 Feb 19

PMID 39971900

Authors

Jeffrey L Cummings

Yadi Zhou

Alexandra Van Stone

Davis Cammann

Reina Tonegawa-Kuji

Jorge Fonseca

Feixiong Cheng

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Repurposed drugs provide a rich source of potential therapies for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders (NDD). Repurposed drugs have information from non-clinical studies, phase 1 dosing, and safety and tolerability data collected with the original indication. Computational approaches, "omic" studies, drug databases, and electronic medical records help identify candidate therapies. Generic repurposed agents lack intellectual property protection and are rarely advanced to late-stage trials for AD/NDD. In this review we define repurposing, describe the advantages and challenges of repurposing, offer strategies for overcoming the obstacles, and describe the key contributions of repurposing to the drug development ecosystem.

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