Purdue Research Looks at ‘Repurposing’ Drugs
Purdue President Mitch Daniels says the collaboration "will move us forward in areas core to both institutions."
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA Purdue University researcher says a $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health could help address an "urgent need" for a certain type of drug. Mohamed Seleem says the funding will support his research on whether two FDA-approved drugs could be repurposed to treat life-threatening drug-resistant bacteria.
Seleem, an associate professor of microbiology in Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine, says his work is part of a push to help treat what the World Health Organization calls a "slow-motion tsunami" of drug-resistant infections.
The funding will focus on auranofin, an FDA-approved drug, and ebselen, a clinical molecule. The school says auranofin, which is FDA-approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis, is effective against Clostridium difficile, which is a potentially-deadly form of diarrhea. Ebselen, which doesn’t yet have a proven use, could be effective against MRSA.
Seleem has used previous funding to buy about 4,000 out-of-patent drugs to see if they can be repurposed. He says using existing drugs can help avoid the time-consuming and expensive approval process for treatments.
"It can take 15 years or longer to move a new drug through the approval pipelines," Seleem said. "The solution is to find drugs that we already know are safe."