Can AI crack pharma’s drug repurposing goldmine?

By Alivia Kaylor

Some of the most well-known drugs in history have emerged through repurposing, from Bayer’s aspirin, which was originally sold as a painkiller and fever reducer then later as a cardiovascular medication, to Pfizer’s Viagra.

Now, the FDA is aiming to replicate those successes by taking a closer look at how therapies already on the market may be repurposed for potential new uses, especially in areas where patients face limited treatment options.

“This is where the opportunity for industry impact becomes extremely exciting,” said Raj Indupuri, CEO and co-founder of eClinical Solutions.

Earlier this month, the regulator announced that it’s seeking input from industry stakeholders on how it can tap into pharma’s potential goldmine of existing drugs. Specifically, the FDA wants help finding candidates that might already meet the evidence standards for new uses without additional trials, and those supported by early clinical or preclinical efficacy results that might “warrant further study.”

This is good news for most pharma companies that already have enormous volumes of underutilized data from across the clinical trial spectrum — a single phase 3 trial alone can pump out upward of 6 million data points. But analyzing these vast datasets, which are often collected and stored in a patchwork of systems and databases, has also become increasingly complex, Indupuri said.lth fairs and other events talking about research and being visible in the community,” she said. “Progress is not just producing numbers — but showing that you’re there in the community you want to serve.”