Drugs approved by the FDA for one disease or condition can sometimes be used to treat people with other diseases or conditions. This is called “drug repurposing” or “drug repositioning.”
Some drugs that are FDA approved for one type of cancer are tested in clinical trials for how well they work in another type of cancer. Additionally, some drugs that are FDA approved for conditions other than cancer are tested in trials for cancer.
Drug repurposing can help discover drugs in a faster, cheaper, and safer way. Because the drug is already approved, researchers have information about a safe dose and side effects to watch for.
Read below to learn more about drug repurposing in general and how it is being used in MBC.
About Drug Repurposing
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences: Drug repurposing involves clinical trials to study existing drugs for new therapeutic uses
- MD Anderson Cancer Center: Drugs that are candidates for repurposing are often identified accidentally
- ReDO Project: The ReDO Project maintains a database of drugs and clinical trials for drug repurposing in cancer
- VJOncology (video): Dr. Erica Michelle Stringer-Reasor explains drugs that are being repurposed for HER2-positive breast cancer
Drug Repurposing in MBC
- OncLive: CDK4/6 inhibitors, which are FDA-approved for use in hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative MBC, are being investigated in HER2-positive MBC and triple-negative MBC
- OncLive: Durvalumab (Imfinzi®), an immunotherapy approved for use in other cancers, plus datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd; Datroway®) led to strong, long-lasting responses in people with triple-negative MBC
- Oncotube: Binimetinib (Mektovi®), a targeted therapy approved for use in other cancers, plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) was beneficial in people with triple-negative MBC
MBC Clinical Trials
- Metastatic Trial Search: Trials for CDK4/6 Inhibitors
- Metastatic Trial Search: Trials for Durvalumab (Imfinzi®)
- Metastatic Trial Search: Trials for Binimetinib (Mektovi®)
- Metastatic Trial Search: Trials for People with MBC
Last Modified on June 4, 2025