How common drugs could help tackle obesity and diabetes

By Alice Clifford via SWNS

Common drugs used to treat conditions such as ulcers and cancer could be repurposed to fight obesity and diabetes, scientists believe.

These include drugs that treat stomach ulcers, heart rhythm disorders and breast cancer.

Drug repurposing is becoming an increasingly attractive option for developing new therapies, as there is already large amounts of information available about each drug.

This information includes results from human trials, the risks surrounding them, the cost, and the time the drug takes to make and market.

Scientists developed a computer program that combines information about gene networks, which are linked to specific diseases, with different types of pre-existing drugs.

Through this process, they could find existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat other conditions.

Dr. William Reay, from the University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute in New South Wales, Australia, said: “Diabetes and obesity are the major risk factors for dozens of chronic health disorders that contribute to astonishing levels of human morbidity and mortality.

"Treating these conditions is complicated by differences in the genetic risk factors in each individual, which alter the capacity of drugs to target the disease.

“We wanted to make an impact against these and other complex conditions through the discovery of drugs that target each individual’s genetically encoded biological risk.”

Firstly, the software found genetic pathways that linked to type two diabetes and obesity.

The researchers then took this information and identified drugs that could help treat these conditions.

A muscle relaxant called baclofen, and a chemotherapy drug called carfilzomib were found to have the potential to treat obesity.

A breast cancer treatment called palbociclib, and a drug that treats heart failure and heart rhythm called cardiac glycosides, was found as a potential treatment for type two diabetes.

The software even found drugs that could treat them both. These included a drug called fostamatinib which treats the blood disorder thrombocytopenia, one called sucralfate, which treats stomach ulcers, and the cancer drug regorafenib.

After studying these drugs, the team found that baclofen and sucralfate would probably be the safest options as repurposed treatments.

The software can go even further by matching drugs to specific patients based on their genetic makeup, allowing each individual to receive the best treatment for them.

Professor Murray Cairns, also from the University of Newcastle in Australia, said: “New treatments with higher activity and specificity are urgently needed to tackle a pandemic of chronic illness associated with type 2 diabetes and obesity.

“Our technology harnesses genetically informed precision medicine to identify and target new treatments for these complex disorders at the heart of so much human suffering and global economic cost.”

These results will be presented at the International Congress on Obesity in Melbourne between18-22 October.