Repurposing Drugs. Please vote on this one

Should we be repurposing drugs for MS? Your view is needed!

So far your response to this survey request has been disappointing. 



A total of about 50 responses in one and a half days.  Yesterday there were 2,800 visits, including 680 visits from UK and over 200 page views of the post noted in Google stats.  In 36 hours I would have hoped for a greater response. This is either apathy on your part, I suspect survey fatigue (as Prof G has been learning programming skills with Java to make a lot of them) or most of our viewers are not MSers. Why bother!!!.


The Health innovation fund (jointly funded The Wellcome Trust and Department of Health) have put out a specifically commissioned call for repurposing of medicines 


0512-5a: Repurposing of medicines and medical devices 

It is not always commercially attractive to repurpose devices or drugs even though important medical benefits could be gained. This Fund theme is intended to support and facilitate projects aiming to repurpose products in the wider pursuit of enhanced, affordable healthcare and which can result in early adoption by the NHS and other healthcare systems.  Applications are invited that will repurpose approved medicinal products or medical devices for use in new therapeutic indications or disease states, including reuse pre-existing drugs and data for various diseases and are anticipated to encounter a low regulatory hurdle and rapid progression to clinical use and adoption. 


As a British MSer. This could affect you!. 
Should Neuros spend/waste their time trying to get repurposed drugs on the agenda for progressive MSers, etc. or Leave it to Pharma to decide whether they can or cannot find a target to treat your MS.

It takes a lot of effort to get studies off the ground and supported. The MS-SMART trials (See research day video by Sir Jeremy) for progressive MS have been over 5 years in the planning and this is just for the trials, which have yet to get off the ground. How would they become licensed drugs is another issue. Has this been thought through

As a non-Brit MSer it could affect you also!.
Although the circumstance are somewhat different to other countries because of the Naional Health Service in the UK, once a drug gets a licence in one country, it is going to be easier to get a licence in another country, especially within Europe.

There are loads more questions for and against this path. I have my views. What are your views?



See Prof G post on off label prescribing

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