Ben Sidders, Chief Scientific Officer at Biorelate, explores how emerging AI-driven technologies are revealing hidden cause-and-effect relationships within existing biomedical data. Nearly 30% of FDA-approved drugs eventually gain additional indications beyond their original approval and are some of the highest-value and… Read More
Investigators have found evidence that the cholesterol-lowering drug lapaquistat could be an effective treatment for Cryptosporidium, an intestinal parasite. Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK, have mapped the human metabolic pathways that Cryptosporidium requires to survive. The scientists say that shutting down… Read More
A drug used for Parkinson’s disease has been shown to be effective in reducing the symptoms of difficult to treat depression, in a study led by the University of Oxford. In the largest clinical trial to date, pramipexole was found to be substantially more effective than a… Read More
New research has shown that phosphodiesterase (PDE) 3 inhibitors, used for treating thrombosis, heart diseases, and asthma, can promote bone growth by stimulating C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) signalling. Scientists have found that PDE3 inhibitors stimulate key signalling pathways that trigger Ca2+ influx into bone cells, promoting extracellular… Read More
The active ingredient digoxin, a substance found in foxglove, reduces the number of cells in clusters of breast cancer cells circulating in the blood, new research has found. These clusters are responsible for the formation of metastases in other organs. The smaller the clusters, the fewer metastases… Read More
Ann Belien, CEO at Rejuvenate Biomed, explores the need for more treatment options for age-related diseases and the opportunities drug repurposing offers these conditions. As the average global lifespan continues to rise, the prevalence of age-related diseases has become an increasing concern. Consequently, treatment options for those diseases are more… Read More
A new study in mice by researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) in New York has identified a promising drug combination for the treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Rosiglitazone plus trametinib worked synergistically to not only induce tumour cell death, but also shift… Read More
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business. In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dr Friso Postma,… Read More
Ribociclib – a drug already used to treat breast cancer – may help slow the growth of diffuse hemispheric glioma (DHG), new research has found. A team of scientists from The Institute of Cancer Research, London and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA, have uncovered clues… Read More
Biotechnology company Rejuvenate Biomed has announced a partnership with analytics company SAS to develop a drug repurposing discovery tool to help researchers and scientists uncover medically relevant insights about drugs, diseases, and biological networks. The tool will be developed using SAS’ artificial intelligence (AI) and data… Read More
A drug commonly used to treat cystic fibrosis improved outcomes for patients with severe Covid-19 pneumonia in a recent clinical trial. The drug, dornase alfa, could be used to treat other respiratory infections, according to the data from researchers at UCL, UCLH and the Francis Crick… Read More
Scientists at the University of Sydney and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine have revealed that a commonly used blood thinner, heparin, can be repurposed as an inexpensive antidote for cobra venom. Cobras kill thousands of people a year worldwide and many more are seriously maimed by… Read More
DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Jouhyun Jeon, Principal Investigator at Klick Applied Sciences, about the company’s artificial intelligence algorithm, LOVENet, and how it offers a fresh perspective for repurposed drugs. RA: First off, could you tell me about the LOVENet algorithm? … Read More
A new study suggests that certain drugs commonly used to treat enlarged prostate may also decrease the risk for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and potentially other neurodegenerative diseases. This observational finding mirrors previous work by the University of Iowa (UI) Health Care team that links… Read More
Drugs developed to treat HIV and AIDS are being trialled for the first time in patients with multiple brain tumours. Scientists at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth are conducting a clinical trial to see whether using anti-retroviral medications, ritonavir… Read More
In a world first, Sidra Medicine, a member of Qatar Foundation, has pioneered a new treatment protocol for a young infant with congenital hyperinsulinism. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. As the patient wasn’t responding to conventional medical therapies, the Sidra… Read More
