Just went and read a piece of the Wiki article about Thalidomide being used for leprosy.
One detail I couldn’t make head or tail of, through all the jargon: Does it actually help cure or at least slow down the progress of leprosy? Or does it just provide symptomatic relief to help keep the patient more comfortable? I didn’t quite follow that.
Methadone IIRC was developed to wean addicts away from heroin so they would stop using drugs.
Several drugs now used to treat pain - especially chronic and neuropathic pain - were developed for other uses:
Gabapentin is an anticonvulsant.
Cymbalta (duloxetine) is an antidepressant that now is also labeled for some types of neuropathic pain.
Amantadine is an antiviral being investigated for pain (more often used for this in veterinary patients than on the human side).
Aspartame notoriously was developed as part of an anti-ulcer medication, then one of the researchers got some on his fingers, didn’t notice it and licked them later.
Saccharine was discovered pretty much the same way, as part of experiments involving toluene (as in the last T of TNT) derivatives.
Both are now just “fake sugar”.
[QUOTE=thelurkinghorror]
Beta blockers and presumably benzodiazepines are also used by shooters to steady their aim, and thus banned in competition.
[/QUOTE]
In the same vein, the asthma medication Salbutamol is used as a bronchodilatator by some unscrupulous athletes, notably marathon runners and endurance swimmers. Apparently it lets them get a little more mileage out of every breath of air.
Makes sense; the H2 receptor antagonists block a different sort of histamine receptor than the usual antihistamines (H1 receptor antagonists).
It’s also used as an anti-Parkinsonian drug, although it’s not very clear how it works in this capacity.
http://www.webmd.com/parkinsons-disease/amantadine-for-parkinsons-disease
Nope. It was created because Germany had an opiate shortage and wanted to develop a synthetic opiate they could create without having to seek out raw opium, in order to solve the problem. After the war, the patents went to the Allies, and soon a pair of doctors in NYC (Drs. Dole and Nyswander) began studying it as a maintenance drug for opiate addicts, which is now what it is known best for. Of course, it’s also still used for pain as well.
An amusing example of this is bimatoprost ophthalmic solution. It was originally used to treat glaucoma, when users discovered an interesting side-effect … it makes eyelashes grow.
Now it is marketed for that indication as a cosmetic drug, under the brand name Latisse®.
Cholestyramine is labelled as a cholesterol drug. I think most prescriptions for it are for gall bladder removal patients / diarrhea dominant IBS / short bowel syndrome / bile salt diarrhea. They probably noted that the most prominent side effect was constipation.
Aspirin is the first answer to the OP that popped into my mind.
First used to treat pain, now used to help prevent myocardial infarctions and as a therapy to relieve some of the effects of a stroke.
Hydroxychloroquine, originally used to treat malaria, also can be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
Amantadine is used for Parkinson’s, too.
It was invented under the Third Reich and at one time was called dolophine. It is another misconception/urban legend that it might’ve been called adolphine and was named after 'dolf Hitler, though.
Botox (botulism toxin) was used for cosmetic surgery. Then some wonderful doctor whose hand I would like to shake wondered, if botox can paralyze nerves which cause facial wrinkling, maybe it could do something about the misfiring nerves which cause chronic migraine. It worked and I am living proof that it does: at one point I was experiencing over 20 days with migraine a month, and now it’s more like 1 every two months.
They keep finding new medical uses for Botox. It is also indicated for such things as hyperhydrosis and focal spasticity.
Clonidine, another antihypertensive, is also used for ADHD.
Heroin itself was previously marketed as a cough suppressant. File:BayerHeroin.png - Wikipedia
Nowadays, opiates are still considered effective for cough suppression, but Codeine is typically used as Heroin is too addictive.
I’ve always wanted to start a company licensing drugs that passed FDA Level I trials (basic safety) but failed Level II and III trials (efficacy and dosing) for the disease they were developed to treat to see what other illness they would be good for.
It is, as well as anxiety. I am told it’s pretty similar to guanfacine. It’s often prescribed as a dermal patch to maintain a constant dose.
I find it fascinating that loperamide (Immodium), an antidiarrheal, is an opioid. Not nearly as strong and more selective than morphine, of course.
Marijuana used to be used for making sails and rope.
Hemp isn’t marijuana and you know that. The plant is Cannabis sp. George H.W. Bush couldn’t have licked his parachute to get high. Hemp in olden times would’ve been ditchweed-quality at best.
