Abstract
Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders are a massive burden on the global
health system, including a broad range of clinical conditions, such as epilepsies,
depression, dementia, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease. Permanent efforts are
being made to find early, non-invasive, and effective diagnostic methods, as well as
efficient and safe drug-based treatments for CNS conditions. Nevertheless, many
patients displaying these clinical conditions still face the lack of an effective
pharmacotherapy to cure the diseases or at least to properly control the progression of
symptoms. Currently, epilepsies present an estimated prevalence of 0.5%–1%
worldwide, and around 30% of the patients remain refractory to the available drug
treatment. The comorbidities that affect epileptic patients, such as cognitive
impairment and depression, are major public health challenges. This scenario
highlights the urgent need for approving new therapeutic tools for CNS diseases. A
successful development process of a new compound presenting therapeutic potential
can range up to 20 years and cost hundreds of millions of US dollars, from the initial
characterization of the in vitro chemical and biological properties until clinical trials.
Additionally, drug development has a low success rate in the case of CNS conditions.
In this context, drug repurposing (or drug repositioning, DR) is an alternative way to
reduce the cost and accelerate the process of a drug-based treatment approach since it
identifies a novel clinical application for an existing compound already approved for a
distinct indication. In the present chapter, we aim to describe recent outcomes of DR aiming at CNS pathological conditions, especially discussing the recent clinical trials
and their impacts on future endeavors in the search for the management of epilepsies
and related comorbidities.
Keywords: Central Nervous System, Clinical Trial, CNS Diseases, Cognitive Impairment, Drug Repurposing, Drug Repositioning, Epilepsy, Depression, Pharmacotherapy.