Every now and then I’ll read that drug X was originally created searching for a cure to disease A, but then they find out its a cure for B instead. How do scientists set out to design a chemical that does specific things? And is it just by chance they discover that it helps with, say, erectile dysfunction and market it that way? Especially when the addition of one atom can seemingly vastly change molecule properties.
In: Chemistry
Most drugs are organic compounds, so the process is mostly “Well this chemical would be a similar shape to that chemical which we already know works on X, so let’s see if we can synthesise it.”
And if they can synthesize it, they trial it at various stages like agar dishes, animal testing. If it shows promising results, human trials.
When you hear about a medicine being used to treat something different from intended, it’s usually the result of long-term meta studies of patients using the drug for its intended purpose and incidentally reporting changes to other conditions.
These meta studies might find a serendipitous second use for the initial drug, at which point controlled studies are performed targeting this other condition.
Latest Answers