The following papers and articles have been published by the ReDO team and its associates:
The Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO) Project : A paper that introduces the ReDO project and explains our rationale, aims and the science that underlies our thinking. [Published July 10th 2014]
Mebendazole as an anti-cancer agent : A review of the evidence for an anticancer effect of the generic anti-parasitic drug mebendazole. Includes a discussion of potential combinations with other drugs for treating specific types of cancer. [Published July 10th 2014]
Recycling existing drugs for cancer therapy: delivering low cost cancer care : An editorial from the journal ecancermedicalscience on the case for drug repurposing for cancer. [Published July 10th 2014]
Cimetidine as an anti-cancer agent : A review of the evidence for an anticancer effect of the generic and well-known antacid cimetidine. Includes a discussion of potential combinations with other drugs for treating specific types of cancer. [Published November 26th 2014]
Repurposing drugs in your medicine cabinet: untapped opportunities for cancer therapy? : A concise exposition of the argument for repurposing drugs in oncology published as an editorial by Future Oncology. [Published January 16th 2015]
Clarithromycin as an anti-cancer agent : A review of the evidence for an anticancer effect of the generic and well-known antibiotic clarithromycin. Includes a discussion of potential combinations with other drugs for treating specific types of cancer. [Published February 24th 2015]
Itraconazole as an anti-cancer agent : Itraconazole is a widely used anti-fungal drug with a long history of use – there is also evidence, outlined in this paper, of potent anticancer activity in a number of different cancers. The paper concludes with an outline of some potential synergistic combinations with other drugs in anticancer protocols for different disease types. [Published April 15th 2015]
Nitroglycerin as an anti-cancer agent : Nitroglycerin is a widely used anti-angina drug with a long history of use – there is also evidence, outlined in this paper, of potent activity against hypoxia and other pathways of interest in cancer treatment. The paper includes an outline of some potential synergistic combinations with other drugs in anticancer protocols for different disease types. [Published August 27th 2015]
Drug repurposing in oncology—patient and health systems opportunities : In most countries, healthcare service budgets are not likely to support the current explosion in the cost of new oncology drugs. Repurposing the large arsenal of approved, non-anticancer drugs is an attractive strategy to offer more-effective options to patients with cancer, and has the substantial advantages of cheaper, faster and safer preclinical and clinical validation protocols… [Published 20 October 2015]
Diclofenac as an anti-cancer agent : Diclofenac is a commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with a long history of clinical use – there is also evidence, outlined in this paper, that it has potential as an anticancer agent. The paper concludes with an outline of some potential synergistic combinations with other drugs in anticancer protocols for different disease types. [Published January 12th 2016]
Propranolol as an anti-cancer agent : Propranolol is a commonly used beta blocker with a long history of clinical use – there is also evidence, outlined in this paper, that it has potential in cancer treatments. In addition to evidence for a direct anti-cancer effect, particularly in angiosarcoma, there is also evidence that it might be effective in a range of cancers when given at the same time as surgery [Published October 12th 2016]
Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as anti-cancer agents : The antimalarial agents chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have preclinical evidence of effects useful in anti-cancer therapy. The use of these drugs in combination with conventional anti-cancer treatments is appealing since they are able to sensitise tumour cells to a variety of drugs, potentiating the therapeutic activity. This paper summarises the data, both pre-clinical and clinical. [Published November 2017]
Selective PDE5 inhibitors as anti-cancer agents : Selective phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors, including sildenafil, tadalafil and vardenafil, are widely-used in the treatment of erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension. These drugs may also be effective cancer treatments. A range of data is assessed in this paper and the case made that there is pre-clinical and clinical evidence that these drugs may offer clinical benefit in a range of cancers. In particular, evidence is presented that these drugs have potent immunomodulatory activity that warrants clinical study in combination with check-point inhibition. [Published April 2018]
ReDO_DB: the repurposing drugs in oncology database : Repurposing is a drug development strategy that seeks to use existing medications for new indications. In oncology, there is an increased level of activity looking at the use of non-cancer drugs as possible cancer treatments. The Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO) project has used a literature-based approach to identify licensed non-cancer drugs with published evidence of anticancer activity. Data from 268 drugs have been included in a database (ReDO_DB) developed by the ReDO project. Summary results are outlined and an assessment of clinical trial activity also described. The database has been made available as an online open-access resource (http://www.redo-project.org/db/). [Published December 2018]
