“Having lots of drugs at home is a problem because we self-medicate”

Are we a drug overuse society?

Yes, Spain is a self-medicated society; we have a serious problem with antibiotics and super germs that are resistant to many of them. There are diseases caused by bacteria that don’t respond to the antibiotics we’ve already developed.

Do we want a pill for every health problem?

On the one hand, we are very prone to the idea that ‘my neighbor or brother-in-law recommends, I take it’. On the other hand, having medicines left at home is also a problem. We all have a closet or drawer full of drugs. Reducing the number of pills in blister packs will help: if the doctor has prescribed you two a day for seven days, just give you 14 pills. Education is also necessary to learn from a young age that we are not all the same and that you should not take antibiotics if you have a fever and sore throat.

Can we really imagine a world without effective antibiotics?

We do not dream. It would be like in the days of the First World War, when people died of any kind of nonsense. And it’s already happening in hospitals with some bacterial infections that cost lives. In the meantime, we take antibiotics even though we shouldn’t, and if the doctor prescribes them, we stop them as soon as we get better. We are not aware of this danger.

Why are there orphan drug diseases?

Although there are exceptions, such as Glaxo working on Chagas or Leishmania, they are not as productive a niche as other diseases and pharmaceutical companies are less concerned with neglected or rare diseases. Ebola had been forgotten until it was seen that it could and did leap into the first world and saw the wolf’s ears.

How much time and money does it take to develop and market a new drug?

It depends on the disease. On average, between 10 and 12 years, some authors say that a little more. 2.5 trillion euros in money. Therefore, strategies are sought to shorten these times and help save money, through computational tools, artificial intelligence or drug repositioning.

Because sometimes you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. What is drug repositioning?

In identifying new applications of these drugs that are already on the market. We have a huge arsenal of drugs, and it’s estimated that 70% could have up to 20 new apps. This is too much.

Something like taking the shortcut?

In fact, it’s like taking a shortcut. As currently approved drugs, preclinical stages in animals have already passed to confirm that they are safe and do not show any toxicity; sometimes in humans we go straight to phase II or III. Skipping so many steps allows an ‘old’ drug to be repositioned over a period of one to two years and at a cost of around one or two million euros. With a much higher success rate. Just like when we recycle clothes: that jacket that my nephew used to wear when I grew up.

It reminded me of the ‘It’s done, let’s use it’ slogan from a used trading app.

After all, it is recycling. We have that chemical library, let’s use this arsenal of compounds, let’s do sustainable drug development – ​​because the word is so trendy. Let’s do this. In addition, it allows the use of indispensable experimental animals in fewer numbers.

Some examples?

There are many. Aspirin is an anti-inflammatory that is currently used as an antithrombotic and is being studied for its use against some cancers. Thalidomide is used today to treat some types of incurable leprosy.