TABLE 4.

Some repurposed drugs for ALS and MS.

Drug name	Earlier indication	Repurposed	References
Masitinib	Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (used to treat canine cancer)	Tyrosine kinase inhibitors may be effective against the aberrant glial cells that grow in ALS, explaining their usage in the disease	Trias et al. (2016)
Triumeq® (dolutegravir + abacavir + lamivudine)	An antiretroviral Drug used in anti-HIV therapy	Based on the fact that ALS patients had reverse transcriptase blood concentrations comparable to HIV-infected patients and that a human endogenous retrovirus was found to be expressed in the brains of ALS victims, this medicine was investigated for the treatment of the disease	Clinicaltrials (2022)
Retigabine	Anti-epileptic drug (causes membrane hyperpolarization by attaching to voltage-gated potassium channels, which increases the M-current.)	Because it is believed that neurons in this condition are hyper-excited and fire more frequently than usual, ultimately leading to cell death, it can promote motor neuron survival and lower excitability, which is beneficial in the treatment of ALS.	Wainger et al. (2021)
Tamoxifen	An antioestrogen drug (authorized for use in breast cancer chemotherapy and chemoprevention)	The discovery of neurological improvements in patients and disease stability in ALS patients who had breast cancer treated with tamoxifen led to the drug’s accidental repurposing for the treatment of ALS.	Chen et al. (2020)
Mitoxantrone	An anthracenedione that has been proven effective in the treatment of breast and prostate cancer, acute leukaemia, and lymphoma	Mitoxantrone has also been licensed for the treatment of MS due to its immunosuppressive properties, which are connected to variable responses of the T- and B-cells in the central nervous system to antigens, myelin degradation brought on by macrophages, and axonal lesions	Fox (2004)
Cyclophosphamide	An alkylating agent treatment of leukaemia, lymphomas, and breast carcinoma	Cyclophosphamide is used in MS because it can have an immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory effect. Additionally, cyclophosphamide has good absorption in the central nervous system and can cross the blood-brain barrier	Awad and Stue (2009)
Amiloride	A diuretic medication	Amiloride can prevent the neuronal proton-gated acid-sensing ion channel 1 (ASIC1), which is overexpressed in axons and oligodendrocytes in MS lesions, from having its neuroprotective and myeloprotective effects. A further benefit of amiloride’s preventive action occurring later in the course of inflammation is that it makes it active even before inflammation begins	Arun et al. (2013)
Ibudilast	Phosphodiesterases inhibitor used for bronchial asthma and cerebrovascular disorders	Ibudilast can prevent the brain’s microglia and astrocytes from releasing tumor necrosis factor, which reduces neuronal degeneration. It is also helpful in MS because it can prevent oligodendrocyte apoptosis, suppress astrocyte apoptosis, and prevent demyelination	Barkhof et al. (2010)