Are miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro have transformed the treatment of obesity as well as diabetes, can help treat heart disease, kidney disease, sleep apnea, and maybe even Alzheimer’s.

But they are far from the only medicine with more than one use. Aspirin, colchicine, minoxidil, and Viagra were all found to treat more conditions than expected, and about a third of drugs end up with a second approved use.

In this episode, Jacob and Saloni explore the idea of drug repurposing: taking a medicine made for one disease and finding it works against others. They trace how GLP-1 drugs emerged from an adorable Gila monster, why some drugs have multiple uses, why so many of those uses go untested, and how patents, competition, prizes, and platform trials shape whether we ever find them.

Hard Drugs is a podcast from Works in Progress about medical innovation, presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen.

You can watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

Transcript

Saloni Dattani: New weight loss drugs called GLP-1s, which include Ozempic and Mounjaro, have transformed treatment for two diseases: obesity and diabetes. They reduce high blood sugar levels, slow down the stomach’s emptying of food, and suppress appetite, which causes weight loss.

Jacob Trefethen: New research suggests they also help with other conditions, including heart disease, kidney disease, sleep apnea, and potentially even Alzheimer’s, and clinical trials are underway to test these too.

Saloni Dattani: But these aren’t the only drugs with multiple effects. Although aspirin has been used for more than a century, it was established in the 1980s that it could help treat cardiovascular disease as well. The same is true for colchicine, an ancient gout medicine that was recently found to help treat heart disease. There’s omalizumab, originally an asthma drug that, it turns out, helps treat food allergies.

Jacob Trefethen: In this episode, we’re going to talk about the multiple effects…