“Repurposing” off-patent drugs offers big hopes of new treatments
But governments need to give companies incentives to invest in them
TOWARDS THE end of 2014 a 66-year-old British man named Alistair had a seizure. A scan revealed shocking news. He had an inoperable brain tumour—a glioblastoma—that was likely to kill him in a few years. Soon afterwards, he read a newspaper article suggesting that a cocktail of cheap, everyday drugs, chosen for their anti-cancer effects, had helped a patient with the same disease. His doctors were unimpressed but said: “We can’t stop you.”
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “A higher purpose”
From the March 2nd 2019 edition
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