Repurposing drugs: A new paradigm and hopes for life-threatening diseases

Abstract

The process of repurposing drugs is an alternative to the conventional drug discovery process. It is a cost-effective and time-efficient process with high returns and low risk that utilizes mechanistic information of the existing drugs to investigate their novel applications against other disease conditions. The most significant benefit of drug repositioning is that it brings new life against novel/ orphan/ resistant diseases and pandemic outbreaks like COVID-19. As a result, widespread use of the drug repurposing strategy will not only aid in the more efficient fight against pandemics but will also combat life-threatening diseases. Therefore, repurposing drugs can provide a quick response to these unpredictable situations. In this chapter, we have tried to focus on various drug-repurposing strategies along with therapeutics for repurposing drugs against life-threatening diseases wherein little or no treatment is readily available. © 2023 Bentham Science Publishers.