Side effects or new properties?
According to German and Danish scientists who have identified molecular targets and side effects of drugs by studying existing drugs, soon the usual pills and drops will be able to be used to treat a wider range of diseases.
Drugs can bind not only to their own molecular targets, but also to other proteins in the cell, which causes various side effects. By comparing drugs that differ in chemical composition but have the same side effects, the researchers were able to identify additional molecular targets for 20 pairs of drugs that have already proven themselves on the drug market. The predicted additional effects of nine drugs were confirmed by tests.
Peer Bork from the European Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Heidelberg, who is leading the research, explains that the approach used can help in the development of methods for using old drugs in new therapeutic areas for them. For example, it was found that prozac (fluoxetine) and the antitumor drug acifex (rabeprazole) have a number of common properties and can bind to the dopamine receptor D3 – the main molecular target of the drug for Parkinson's disease celans (pergolide).
The researchers also found that the antidepressant remeron (mirtazapine) and the insomnia drug Sonata (zaleplon) both interact with the histamine H1 receptor; the anti-Alzheimer's drug aricept (donepezil) can be used to treat depression, as well as the antidepressant effexor (venlafaxine), binding to serotonin transporters. The researchers believe that the use of new capabilities of well–known drugs may be more profitable than the development of new drugs, because the studied drugs have already passed the tests necessary for commercialization.
However, Oliver Stohlmann, a representative of Pfizer, notes that, despite the effectiveness of the study, the tasks, the systematic study of side (and additional beneficial) effects are systematically carried out by pharmaceutical companies. He notes that a number of drugs on the market were originally intended to treat the wrong diseases to combat which they were developed. The most striking example in this regard is Viagra, which was originally developed for the treatment of angina pectoris.
ChemPort.Ru according to the materials Science, 2008, 321, 263 (DOI: 10.1126/science.1158140)
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru15.07.2008