Developing new drugs from remedies that have fallen out of patent may be the answer for biotech companies that have little capital due to falling stock values.
While the cost of developing new drugs starts at around $150 million, revamping drugs that have already been studied for decades is less expensive, quicker, and carries less risk.
Nastech, a small biotech company, is doing just that with apomorphine, a drug that was once used as a purgative and sold alongside castor oil and is now being transformed into a drug for sexual arousal. The drug was first developed in 1869 and since then has been tried as a treatment for brain disorders, schizophrenia and even homosexuality, all with little success.
The company found that apomorphine, which has been around since the Spanish-American War, targets receptors in the brain’s hypothalamus, the neural region responsible for impulses including hunger and sexual longing. They anticipate that it will work to increase sexual function in both males and females, giving it a marketing edge over current drugs such as Viagra.
Nastech plans to get around apomorphine’s known side effects of stomach upset and severe nausea by altering the formula so it can be administered via nasal spray rather than pills, thereby bypassing the gut and liver. If trials go well, they hope to introduce the drug to market by 2006.
Other companies are testing out new uses for a variety of old drugs. For instance, thalidomide, which was used as a treatment for morning sickness in the 1960s until it was found to cause severe birth defects, has been approved for the treatment of leprosy and is being tested on multiple myeloma, a lethal blood cancer.
Another example is Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, a tuberculosis vaccine that developed from potatoes in the 1920s. Its effectiveness is looked at as mediocre in the West, but now a researcher has enhanced the vaccine with a gene that instructs the immune system to overproduce TB-fighting cells, and clinical trials on the new vaccine are scheduled to begin shortly.
Recycling old drugs seems to be a safe moneymaker for the time being, although many drug companies are still looking to develop new drugs that will provide new treatments for diseases like cancer, cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy.
Wired June 2003
Creating new drugs from old ones, some of which were previously removed from the market for causing serious side effects, is one more way that drug companies can earn a profit.
As a consumer, it is up to you to decide whether the benefits outweigh the risks of using drugs. Drugs, even when they have been tested and found to be "safe," cause changes in your body, the extent of which cannot possibly be known by clinical studies.
I am not saying that all drugs need to be avoided--there are certainly times when they are called for--but a vast number of prescriptions are unnecessary and would be better served by the prescription of a few basic health principles.
What are these basic principles?
Following these three principles will do wonders for a variety of ailments for which drugs are commonly prescribed, such as (to name a few):
I detail the importance of these principles, including step-by-step instructions on how to implement these changes and maintain them, in my new book, The No-Grain Diet.
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