BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

Reprofiler report card

April 18, 2005 7:00 AM UTC

Reprofiling companies' raison d'être is to get drugs to market faster and cheaper than conventional R&D companies by developing marketed or failed compounds for new applications. Most reprofiled compounds already have been shown to be safe in man - at least in their original formulation. As a result, it's not clear what meaning can be derived from the fact that many reprofilers have advanced their compounds to proof of principle or even pivotal trials.

As such, in order to prove themselves, the reprofilers will need to bring products all the way to the end of successful pivotal trials. Proof should start to appear as early as 2006 or 2007, as three of these companies are running Phase III trials on reprofiled products. Six other companies are running or have completed Phase II trials, and most companies in the space have compounds that have recently started Phase I or will soon enter the clinic...