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Drug repurposing in oncology—patient and health systems opportunities

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 12, pages 732–742 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

In most countries, healthcare service budgets are not likely to support the current explosion in the cost of new oncology drugs. Repurposing the large arsenal of approved, non-anticancer drugs is an attractive strategy to offer more-effective options to patients with cancer, and has the substantial advantages of cheaper, faster and safer preclinical and clinical validation protocols. The potential benefits are so relevant that funding of academically and/or independently driven preclinical and clinical research programmes should be considered at both national and international levels. To date, successes in oncology drug repurposing have been limited, despite strong evidence supporting the use of many different drugs. A lack of financial incentives for drug developers and limited drug development experience within the non-profit sector are key reasons for this lack of success. We discuss these issues and offer solutions to finally seize this opportunity in the interest of patients and societies, globally.

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Figure 1: Combinatorial therapies and drug repurposing.

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Acknowledgements

F.B. receives financial support from AIRC (Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro), Fondazione Umberto Veronesi, and Ministero della Salute. G.B. would like to thank Nicolas André, Lydie Meheus, Pan Pantziarka and Matthew Sydes for useful discussions of some of the ideas presented in this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Hematology-Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Via Ripamonti 435, Milan, 20141, Italy

    Francesco Bertolini

  2. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02215, MA, USA

    Vikas P. Sukhatme

  3. Anticancer Fund, 1853 Strombeek-Bever, Brussels, 1853, Belgium

    Gauthier Bouche

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  1. Francesco Bertolini
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  2. Vikas P. Sukhatme
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  3. Gauthier Bouche
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F.B. and G.B. researched data for this article, all authors made a substantial contribution to discussions of content, writing the manuscript and editing and/or reviewing the manuscript prior to submission.

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Correspondence to Francesco Bertolini.

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Bertolini, F., Sukhatme, V. & Bouche, G. Drug repurposing in oncology—patient and health systems opportunities. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 12, 732–742 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2015.169

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