An antidepressant drug could be repurposed to provide a cheaper solution for treating breast cancer. Creating new and effective anti-cancer drugs has been a complex process, given the high cost, long development time, and drug testing and regulatory approval requirements. However, biomedical scientists are today using drug repurposing for drug discovery.
Dr. Asis Bala and his team of researchers at the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, Guwahati, an autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, have been working in this area of drug repurposing to develop better therapeutic strategies for cancer management. This group of researchers has shown that selegiline (L-deprenyl), an antidepressant drug belonging to a class of drugs called monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, can be used as an anticancer therapy in breast cancer.