At a time when new drugs are not coming along, it is important to rationally, judiciously and scientifically use the available drugs for treatment of patients, said eminent neurosurgeon Prof Ashok Kumar Mohapatra on Friday.

 “New drugs are difficult to develop and we should not use available drugs unnecessarily as they are meant for appropriate use,” Prof Mohapatra, presently Director (Health Programs), SOA University, said while speaking at a two-day national seminar on ‘Drug Repurposing: Challenges and Opportunities’ organisedby the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (SPS), SOA’s faculty of pharmaceutical sciences here.

Prof Mohapatra stressed on an antibiotic policy saying there is a need for evaluation and change in antibiotics from time to time.

 Pointing out that 1.2 million people in India suffered from tuberculosis, he said around ten per cent of the affected people died because of drug resistance. Urging researchers to seek answers to the problems by discovering new drugs, he said if the research was aimed only for getting patents and publicity, it would not help humanity.

Addressing the inaugural session, Prof Sudam Chandra Si, Dean of SPS, said the hurdles in discovery and development of new drugs calls for alternative approaches including drug repositioning.

Drug repurposing is an important strategy to manage the high cost and poor productivity issues associated with drug research and development. Advances in the field of poly-pharmacology, herbal technology and formulation have further paved the way for exploring opportunities in drug repurposing,” he said.

Challenges related to clinical validation, regulation and intellectual property protection impacted this strategy, Prof Si said adding that nevertheless, the strategy provided an opportunity for quick, economic and effective means to find answers to the growing disease burden.