This is what to look for in the December 2018 issue of ASSAY and Drug Development Technologies:
WO/2018/126000 (Rush University Medical Center, USA)
Fibrates (in particular, gemfibrozil) are claimed for LINCL Type 2, a subtype of Batten disease. Much prior art here, some of it ffrom the inventors themselves.
WO/2018/126192 (Childrens’ Medical Center Corp., USA)
Congenital arteriovenous malformations (abnormal shunts between arteries and veins that bypass the normal capillary system) can be treated with MAP2K1 kinase inhibitors that are currently approved for melanoma.
WO/2018/133212 (Cang Gung University, Taiwan)
The old salicylanilide tapeworm drug, niclosamide – no newcomer to drug repurposing – is a platelet aggregation inhibitor.
WO/2018/134372 (Immune System Regulation Holding AB, Sweden)
Various GnRH analogs are active against intracellular pathogens, and could treat tuberculosis or toxoplasmosis.
WO/2018/138389 (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain)
The psychostimulant methylphenidate, broadly used for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, has another paradoxical use: stress-related disorders.
WO/2018/140965 (Paracelsus Neuroscience LLC, USA)
Senicapoc, Icagen’s Gardos channel blocker that fgailed its clinical endpoints in sickle cell disease and asthma, might still find its use as a stroke drug.
WO/2018/144827 (Ovid Therapeutics, Inc., USA)
Exploiting the GABAergic pathway to treat tinnitus is not new, but gabaxadol (a candidate with a long record of failures in CNS disorders and insomnia which acts on extrasynaptic GABA receptors) is a new entry in the field.
WO/2018/144841 (The University of Texas System, USA)
Topical preparations of the popular antifungal voriconazole, a broad-spectrum cytochrome P450 blocker, can be used to treat burn pain: the drug prevents the formation of TRPV1 channel ligands.
WO/2018/162722 (Deutsches Institut für Ernährungsforschung Potsdam-Rheinbrücke, Germany)
Gliptin DPP-IV inhibitors can support bone healing after complicated fractures.
WO/2018/164526 (Ajou University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, Korea)
Atorvastatin can prevent palmitate-triggered hair cell and spiral ganglion cell loss in a diabetic mouse model. More data in I long line of evidence for statins being active in hearing loss – not always on the good side.
WO/2018/169283 (National Cancer Center, Goyang Korea)
Rigosertib might treat hepatitis C – but the mechanisms is not what would be expected.