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Existing medicines with potential to be repurposed to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes identified in Australian research
· Precision medicine software uses a patient’s genes to match them with treatment
Several existing drugs with potential to be repurposed to treat obesity and/or type 2 diabetes (T2D) have been identified by a sophisticated computer program developed by Australian geneticists, the International Congress on Obesity in Melbourne (18-22 October) (the biennial congress of the World Obesity Federation) will hear.
These include drugs used to treat stomach ulcers, heart rhythm disorders and breast cancer.
The researchers have also devised a way of matching the drugs to the patients who are most likely to benefit from them.
Drug repurposing, the finding of a new use for an existing drug, is an increasingly attractive option for developing new therapies. The large amount of information that is already available on that drug, including results from human trials, can reduce risks surrounding drug development, as well as the costs and time to market.
Older drugs which are no longer subject to patent restrictions should also be less expensive for healthcare systems than newly developed compounds.
Software developed by Dr William Reay and Professor Murray Cairns at the University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute, NSW, Australia combines information about gene networks linked to disease with pharmacology, to identify existing drugs with the potential to be repurposed to treat other conditions.
Dr Reay says: “Diabetes and obesity are the major risk factors for dozens of chronic health disorders that contribute to astonishing levels of human morbidity and mortality. Treating these conditions is complicated by differences in the genetic risk factors in each individual, which alter the capacity of drugs to target the disease.
“We wanted to make an impact against these and other complex conditions through the discovery of drugs that target each individual’s genetically encoded biological risk.”
Dr Reay, Professor Cairns and colleagues first obtained publicly available data about genetic pathways linked to T2D and obesity.
They then used their software to compare this data with information on the gene targets and pathways of existing drugs. This was obtained from pharmacogenomic databanks including Drug-Gene Interaction DB.
The software identified drugs that target five genetic pathways for obesity and four genetic pathways for T2D.
Drugs identified as potential obesity treatments include baclofen, a muscle relaxant, and carfilzomib, a chemotherapy drug.
Drugs identified as potential T2D treatments include palbociclib, which is used to treat breast cancer, and cardiac glycosides, which are used to treat heart failure and heart rhythm disorders.
Drugs identified as having the potential to treat both obesity and T2D include fostamatinib, which is used to treat blood disorder thrombocytopenia, sucralfate, which is used to treat stomach ulcers, and cancer drug regorafenib.
The research suggested that baclofen and sucralfate would have favourable safety profiles as repurposed treatments.
The software can also be used to match drugs to patients, based on their genetic make-up, helping ensure each individual gets the treatment that is best for them.
The next step is precision clinical trials, in which the software is used to match the drugs with the potential for repurposing to patients with obesity or T2D.
Professor Cairns says: “New treatments with higher activity and specificity are urgently needed to tackle a pandemic of chronic illness associated with type 2 diabetes and obesity.
“Our technology harnesses genetically informed precision medicine to identify and target new treatments for these complex disorders at the heart of so much human suffering and global economic cost.”
The researchers have recently established a start-up company to attract investment to support the repurposing of drugs identified by their software
