Drug repositioning. When development of novel drugs fails?

Very interesting trend in Big Pharma strategy: Drug repositioning:

Drug repositioning or repurposing is a strategy by which new or additional value is generated from a drug by targeting diseases other than those for which it was originally intended. Repositioning of launched or failed drugs has opened up a new source of revenue to large, medium and small Pharma companies as well as attracting venture capital funding, and is expected to generate up to $20 billion in annual sales in 2012. Drug repositioning is not a new strategy and there are a number of examples of drugs that have been successfully repositioned such as gemcitabine and sildenafil (Table 1). These and many other examples have addressed an unmet medical need in selected patient groups as well as creating substantial value for the company that repositioned the drug. One of the most interesting and extreme examples of repositioning is thalidomide, which was launched in 1957 as a sedative but was later found to be responsible for severe birth defects in children when used by pregnant women to alleviate morning sickness. After additional scientific inquiry the drug has since been shown to be safe in selected patient groups and to be very effective in pain relief in leprosy and Kaposi’s sarcoma, generating $528M in revenue per year.

Well, if this strategy helps to treat diseases and help people – just fine! But this trend and approach is a very nice illustration that new drug development (which is based on predominantly on “targeted” approach) is very inefficient.