New drug launch costs high US study of existing drug use

According to a recent report by the American Physicists Organization Network, US scientists have used computers and genomic information for the first time to find new uses for existing drugs. For example, they found that drugs used to treat ulcers and seizures can be used to treat lung cancer and inflammatory diseases, respectively. Enteropathy. Scientists say that this method not only saves a lot of costs and resources for disease treatment, but also shows that bioinformatics will have a lot to do in the area of ​​pharmacodynamics research.

High cost of listing new drugs

According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a single new drug market will take an average of 15 years and 800 million U.S. dollars, and will undergo rigorous safety testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration FDA and other regulatory agencies. "A new drug market generally requires $1 billion," said Rochelle Ron, head of the US National Institutes of Health's drug genome research network. "If we can find new applications for drugs that have already been approved and marketed." , it can shorten the time from the laboratory to the clinical application of a new drug, reduce related costs and improve the treatment effect.”

The research team led by Dr. O'Tool Bart of Stanford University used computer research to analyze genomes and drug data to predict new uses for drugs already on the market. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and two related papers have been published in the August 17 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The research team obtained data from the National Institutes of Health bioinformatics information gene expression database, an open database containing thousands of studies related to genomics, covering multiple topics from around the world. Submitted by scientists. The database is categorized based on changes in gene activity under different circumstances, such as changes in diseased body tissues or when receiving medications.

There are often unexpected associations between drugs and diseases

The Bart team mainly studied 100 diseases and 164 drugs, and wrote a computer program to study the possible existence of thousands of links between drug-disease studies, so as to discover that their gene expression patterns may reach each other. Drugs and diseases sold.

Most of the disease-drug matching has been widely used in clinical diagnosis and treatment, which is the basis for this method. For example, scientists have correctly predicted prednisolone adrenocortical hormone drugs, which have anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, and immunosuppressive effects to treat Crohn's disease in various parts of the digestive tract, especially in the small intestine. Inflammation.

However, some matches are "a big surprise." The Bart team analyzed the relationship between two such drug-disease relationships, the relationship between the anti-ulcer drug cimetidine and lung cancer, and the relationship between the anti-convulsive agent topiramate and inflammatory bowel disease. Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic, nonspecific intestinal inflammatory disease whose etiology is unclear. Many studies suggest that it may be related to immunity, infection, inheritance, intestinal dysbacteriosis, food allergies, and mental factors. Crohn's disease It is one of them.

In order to confirm the association between anti-ulcer drugs and lung cancer, the scientists tested carbonitrile on human lung cancer cells in laboratory vessels and on experimental mice. In both cases, the control group did not receive carbonitrile. Compared to the treatment with imiamine cells or mice, anti-ulcer drugs can slow the growth rate of cancer cells.

To test whether the anticonvulsive topiramate is effective against inflammatory bowel disease, the scientists administered drugs to rats that exhibit symptoms of bowel disease such as inflammation, diarrhea, ulcers, and colonic microscopic damage. It was found that the drug relieves all symptoms and sometimes it is even better than prednisolone.

In fact, this situation is not uncommon. In the past, new uses of drugs were often discovered and used by scientists in unexpected situations. For example, the original use of minoxidil was to control high blood pressure, but people found it had an interesting side effect, that is, to reverse or delay the process of baldness. Therefore, Canadian pharmaceutical company Upjohn introduced a topical liquid containing minoxidil for the treatment of baldness and hair loss.

This study also has more important value. Scientists have noticed that diseases that have the same molecular processes as molecular processes that affect the immune system can "stick"; drugs with the same effect, such as drugs that can slow down cell division, also push it. Researchers believe that by studying the unexpected members of these plagues, they can better understand how specific diseases have deteriorated and how certain drugs work at the molecular level.

“Although this research has just begun, the efficacy of these new-use drugs in the human body needs to be confirmed by clinical trials, but this innovative method can quickly and efficiently find new applications for existing drugs. And the cost is very low," said Rochel Long.