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Reverse Engineering Drugs: Lorcaserin as an Example

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Drug Development in Psychiatry

Part of the book series: Advances in Neurobiology ((NEUROBIOL,volume 30))

Abstract

Novel central nervous system (CNS)-based therapies have been difficult to produce due to the complexity of the brain, limited knowledge of CNS-based disease development and associated pathways, difficulty in penetrating the blood brain barrier, and a lack of reliable biomarkers of disease. Reverse engineering in drug development allows the utilization of new knowledge of disease pathways and the use of innovative technology to develop medications with enhanced efficacy and reduced toxicities. Lorcaserin was developed as a specific 5HT2C serotonin receptor agonist for the treatment of obesity with limited off-target effects at the 5HT2A and 5HT2B receptors. This receptor specificity limited the hallucinogenic and cardiovascular side effects noted with other serotonin receptor agonists. Reverse engineering approaches to drug development reduce the cost of producing new medications, identify specific populations of patients that will derive the most benefit from therapy, and produce novel therapies with greater efficacy and limited toxicity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Wichita, KS, USA

    Tiffany Schwasinger-Schmidt

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Wichita, KS, USA

    Sheldon H. Preskorn

Authors
  1. Tiffany Schwasinger-Schmidt
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  2. Sheldon H. Preskorn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tiffany Schwasinger-Schmidt .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Matthew Macaluso

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Kansas University School of Medicine-Wichita campus, Wichita, KS, USA

    Sheldon H. Preskorn

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Richard C. Shelton

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Schwasinger-Schmidt, T., Preskorn, S.H. (2023). Reverse Engineering Drugs: Lorcaserin as an Example. In: Macaluso, M., Preskorn, S.H., Shelton, R.C. (eds) Drug Development in Psychiatry. Advances in Neurobiology, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21054-9_8

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