The Quest for Secondary Pharmaceuticals: Drug Repurposing/Chiral-Switches Combination Strategy

Ilaria D’Acquarica*, Israel Agranat*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Drug repurposing toward new medical uses and chiral switches are elements of secondary pharmaceuticals. The drug repurposing and chiral-switches strategies have mostly been applied independently in drug discovery. Drug repurposing has peaked in the search for therapeutic treatments of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, whereas chiral switches have been overlooked. The current Perspective introduces the drug repurposing/chiral-switches combination strategy, overviewing representative cases of chiral drugs that have undergone this combination: ketamine, flurbiprofen, fenfluramine, and milnacipran. The deuterium-enabled chiral switches of racemic thalidomide analogs, a variation of the repurposing/chiral-switch combination strategy, is also included. Patenting and regulatory-exclusivity considerations of the combination strategy in the discovery of new medical uses are considered. The proposed combination creates a new synergy of its two elements, overcoming arguments against chiral switches, with better prospects for validation of patents and regulatory exclusivities. The combination strategy may be applied to chiral switches to paired enantiomers. Repurposing/chiral-switch drugs may be ‘obvious-to-try’; however, their inventions may be unexpected and their patents nonobvious. Patenting repurposing/chiral-switch combination drugs is not ‘evergreening’, ‘product hopping’, and ‘me-too’. The expected benefits and opportunities of the combined repurposing/chiral-switch strategy vis-à-vis its two elements are superior pharmacological properties, overcoming arguments against patent validities, challenges of chiral-switch patents, reduced expenses, shortened approval procedures, and higher expectations of regulatory exclusivities.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)201-219
Number of pages19
JournalACS Pharmacology and Translational Science
Volume6
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Chemical Society.

Keywords

  • chiral switch
  • drug discovery
  • drug repurposing
  • regulatory exclusivity
  • secondary pharmaceutical patents
  • stereoisomer

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