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Computational method predicts new uses for existing medici – 4
Narrator: This is NIH Health Matters. I’m Joe Balintfy. Biotech or pharmaceutical companies might not pursue existing drugs for other treatments if the drugs are already off-patent, meaning low-cost generics exists; or the treatment might be for a so-called orphan disease that has relatively few patients.
Butte: Those are businesses decisions more than scientific ones.
Narrator: So Dr. Atul Butte, an NIH grantee at Stanford University has been using computers to search drug-disease combinations in hopes of saving time and money. He adds:
Butte: If we didn’t find these uses for these drugs I would argue that nobody would ever find these uses for these drugs.
Narrator: For more information on this computational study and this kind of research, visit www.nigms.nih.gov. Health Matters is produced by the NIH, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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