REPOSITIONING AND REPURPOSING THERAPEUTIC DRUGS

Drug repurposing and repositioning is a process of identifying new therapeutic use (s) for the available and existing older drugs. Therapeutically, this has become a popular and effective strategy in recent years, in discovering or developing drug molecules with new pharmacological action and therapeutic indications. The drug repurposing strategy is efficient, economical and less time consuming and is thought to be an effective alternative approach to traditional drug discovery process. With the discovery of novel biological targets, the drug repositioning would maximize the success rate of therapy. Drug based vector control is a new strategy that involved administration of an oral insecticidal drug to a human population at risk to kill the insect vector on blood feeding, thereby reducing the vector population and preventing disease transmission. Isoxazolines category of veterinary drugs viz: fluralaner and afoxolaner have been repurposed for control of vector-borne human diseases like malaria and Zika fever. Veterinary antiparasitic drugs of benzimidazole carbamates and halogenated salicylanilides were repurposed and ¿double repositioned¿ for human cancers.