Challenges for Drug Repurposing
Drug repurposing is often viewed as a route to medicines access for patients that is ‘easier’ than de novo drug development.
This is not necessarily the case and often drug repurposing can give rise to challenges that may not exist in traditional drug development. Despite these challenges, many new and existing initiatives across the globe are coming together to make repurposing simpler for all stakeholders, including REMEDi4ALL.
Our Mission at REMEDI4ALL
The mission of REMEDi4ALL is to make it easier and more reliable to find new medical uses for drugs we already know are safe and effective. REMEDi4ALL aims to show that, in many cases, such “repurposed” medicines can be taken all the way into clinic faster and at the fraction of the cost of developing a completely new drug from scratch. But with hundreds or even thousands of opportunities to repurpose approved and experimental medicines — for the thousands of diseases that remain without any approved treatments at all — REMEDi4ALL must also help to transform the very landscape of drug repurposing. This needs to encompass not only the scientific, clinical research and patient communities, but regulatory, policy and commercial drug and investment sectors as well, so that all researchers will face fewer barriers and be able to bring much needed treatments to patients faster.
Some of the biggest challenges that are particular to drug repurposing include:
- Building an attractive business model for market authorisation holders (MAHs)
- Initiating and maintaining relationships with MAHs for access to drug for trial and beyond
- Consideration of unique regulatory needs and options for routes to market
- Ensuring equity of access to the drug for patients
But there are many more challenges both foreseen and unforeseen. This Virtual Academy aims to help address some of these barriers and offer information and guidance on where to get help to overcome these challenges.
Learn More
Lessons Learnt in Drug Repurposing
Webinar hosted by UCL’s Repurposing Therapeutic Innovation Network, discussing challenges faced by researchers when repurposing drugs and what they could have done differently to facilitate the process, successfully bring the molecules to market and ultimately make the new usage of the compound possible.
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