Pfizer tries new uses for failed drugs
When scientists at Pfizer's Sandwich research facility in
However, when early clinical trials were conducted, the results suggested the drug wasn't sufficiently effective for its intended use. But it did work amazingly well for something else. It caused penile erections. So Pfizer decided to market the compound as Viagra and, in 1998, the drug made history as the first oral treatment approved to treat erectile dysfunction in the
The tremendous success of this pharmaceutical recycling effort is far from lost on Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker. About two years ago, it formed a research group to find alternative uses for compounds that don't work as intended. The 50 scientists in the group also try to find other opportunities for drugs in their early development stage.
The Indications Discovery Unit has a new home in the recently opened $200 million research building on the Pfizer Global Research and Development campus in
Donald Frail, chief scientific officer of the Indications Discovery Unit and director of Pfizer's
Most drugs must go through three phases of human testing. The first round is to make sure the compounds are safe. The second and third test whether the drugs are effective for their intended use. Frail said more than 75 percent of drugs in development never make it past Phase II of testing.
"It's a daunting job," Frail said about being a drug researcher. "It's a minority of scientists that see their drugs get to market."
Frail said Pfizer now focuses on six principal areas: oncology, inflammation, neuroscience, diabetes, cardiovascular and pain. Scientists in the Indications Discovery Unit look for other applications both within and outside those areas.
"The hunt is pretty fascinating," he said. "We let the compounds lead us to the patient. Our playing field is preset by the molecules."
An example of a drug being examined for other uses is Pfizer's Sutent, which is on the market for use against kidney and stomach cancer.
Pfizer has been testing it for other uses as well, and in March the company said Sutent showed "significant benefit" in patients with a form of pancreatic tumor.
But the research on the drug doesn't stop there.
"We're looking at it now for a different, totally nononcology application," Frail said.
Although most drugs never get regulatory approval, the possibility of finding a successful treatment or cure continues to drive researchers in their quest, Frail said.
"It's easy to be motivated when there are patients in need out there," he said.
