
Everything old is new again: Repurposing drugs to treat Covid-19
CNN
The practice of finding new uses for old medications -- called repurposing or repositioning drugs -- is not new.
The most famous (or perhaps infamous) example is sildenafil -- aka: Viagra. Originally developed to treat high blood pressure, the little blue pill received US Food and Drug Administration approval in 1998 to treat erectile dysfunction, and very quickly became a blockbuster drug. Another notable example is thalidomide. Given to women in the late 1950s to prevent morning sickness -- and soon found to cause severe birth defects -- it got a second life in 1998 as treatment for leprosy (now called Hansen's disease), and then a third life in 2006, when it was approved to treat multiple myeloma, cancer of the bone marrow.More Related News