Patricia Folkins, Melanie Szweras and Nicole LaBerge coauthored the article “Repurposed Drugs in the Fight Against COVID-19” by LexisNexis

Patricia Folkins, Melanie Szweras and Nicole LaBerge coauthored the article “Repurposed Drugs in the Fight Against COVID-19” in Risk Management in Canadian Health Care, published by LexisNexis.

Repurposing existing or abandoned drugs is an attractive route to finding a treatment and cure for COVID-19 quickly. To initiate such efforts, the World Health Organization (WHO) has set up a research network with the aim of identifying drug therapies and combinations that could be used to treat COVID-19.¹ Such drugs have already undergone safety, efficacy, and toxicity studies for treatment of a different disease. Repurposing drugs presents pharmaceutical companies with new sales and marketing opportunities, is budget conscious, and faster than developing a drug from scratch. Past examples include minoxidil, sildenafil (Viagra^TM), and thalidomide.

The Risk Management in Canadian Health Care newsletter is available for purchase here.

This article was first published by Bereskin & Parr LLP on July 7, 2020.

¹ https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/solidarity-clinical-trial-for-covid-19-treatments