Background and objective: Background and objective: Drug repurposing has been considered a cost-effective and reduced-risk strategy for developing new drugs. Little is known and documented regarding the efficiency of repurposing strategies in drug development. The objective of this article is to assess the extent and meaning of this process in the CNS area.
Methods: In order to identify repurposed drugs that target the CNS, an extensive search was performed. For each identified case, its initial and target indication, development status and the type of repurposing strategy (repositioning, reformulation or both) was recorded.
Results: One hundred and eighteen source products were identified. They were repurposed (mainly repositioned) 203 times with 81 products repurposed once and 38 products repurposed twice or more. The highest number of source drugs originated from the CNS area. Alzheimer’s disease was targeted most often. Half of the new indications were approved. Regarding repurposing within the CNS area, epilepsy, schizophrenia and depression were the richest sources of repurposed drugs.
Conclusions: Repurposing drugs into CNS is an efficient and very active drug development method, exemplified by the considerable number of new indications that have been found via this strategy, with approximately half of the target indications currently under development.
This article emphasizes the need for community involvement in controlling drug abuse. It illustrates the type of New York State legislation that gave rise to the creation of Narcotic Guidance Councils. It furthermore states the goals of NGC's and the means through five committees to accomplish these goals. These committees include publicity, youth activities, counseling, school education programs, and adult education. In some greater depth, this article traces the development of the Cheektowaga Narcotics Guidance Council and a survey of more than three hundred and fifty NGC's operating in New York State to obtain information concerning specific programs in different locales. Key approaches of this new program involve 1) knowing the problem; 2) finding out what your town is already doing; 3) knowing what you are talking about; 4) keeping the media involved; 5) educating youth and adults; 6) involving young people; 7) setting objectives; and 8) evaluating the program.
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