One Drug, Multiple Treatments
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Doctors are finding multiple ways to use new drugs. Historically, it happened by accident. The classic example is Viagra: It failed as a heart treatment, but doctors noticed it alleviated impotence in some heart patients and developed it for that purpose. Now, researchers often theorize from the outset that a single drug can treat multiple diseases, and experience is bearing them out. Some examples:
| Drug | Originally approved to treat | Now also used to treat |
| Rituxan | Lymphoma | Rheumatoid arthritis. |
| Enbrel | Rheumatoid arthritis in adults | Rheumatoid arthritis in children, psoriatric arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis. |
| Remicade | Crohn's disease | Ulcerative colitis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatric arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. |
| Viread | Infection with the AIDS virus | Hepatitis B. (Not yet approved. Still under study.) |
