ReviewBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2020
Me-too pharmaceutical products: History, definitions, examples, and relevance to drug shortages and essential medicines lists.
Review in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 89 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Characteristics of clinical trials associated with appeal and return on investment to participants: a review and framework.The oncologist · 2025Review
- Generative Deep Learning for de Novo Drug Design─A Chemical Space Odyssey.Journal of chemical information and modeling · 2025Review
- Current landscape of innovative drug development and regulatory support in China.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2025Review
- Development and implementation of a value framework for rapid health technology assessment reports: enhancing evidence-informed decision making in resource-constrained settings.International journal of technology assessment in health care · 2025Article
- Therapeutic Potential of Calcium Channel Blockers in Neuropsychiatric, Endocrine and Pain Disorders.Cells · 2025Review
- Exploring the Role of Berberine as a Molecular Disruptor in Antimicrobial Strategies.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- GPCR drug discovery: new agents, targets and indications.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2025Review
- Machine Learning for Toxicity Prediction Using Chemical Structures: Pillars for Success in the Real World.Chemical research in toxicology · 2025Review
- Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) yielding medicinally relevant rings: a recent update and chemical space analysis of the scaffolds.RSC advances · 2025Review
- An ensemble machine learning model generates a focused screening library for the identification of CDK8 inhibitors.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2024Article
- Added benefit and revenues of oncology drugs approved by the European Medicines Agency between 1995 and 2020: retrospective cohort study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Article
- Chronological Analysis of First-in-Class Drugs Approved from 2011 to 2022: Their Technological Trend and Origin.Pharmaceutics · 2023Article
- Is the quality of evidence in health technology assessment deteriorating over time? A case study on cancer drugs in Australia.International journal of technology assessment in health care · 2023Review
- Value-Based Generic Drug Evaluation Focus on Chinese Real-World Evidence.International journal of health policy and management · 2023Article
- Patent and Marketing Exclusivities 101 for Drug Developers.Recent patents on biotechnology · 2023Review
- Molecular treatment trajectories within psoriatic T lymphocytes: a mini review.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- The History of Drug Development in Psychiatry: A Lesson in Serendipity.Advances in neurobiology · 2023Article
- To Affinity and Beyond: A Personal Reflection on the Design and Discovery of Drugs.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We define a me-too drug as a pharmacologically active compound that is structurally related to a first-in-class compound, regarded as belonging to the same therapeutic class as the original compound, and used for the same therapeutic purposes, but which may differ in some respects, such as specificity of pharmacological action, adverse reactions profile, or drug-drug interactions. We also offer definitions of related terms, including follow-on drug and first-in-class. The therapeutic advantages of me-too drugs may include improved target specificity, reduced risks of off-target adverse reactions and drug-drug interactions, increased chance of benefit in some patients, and improved drug delivery and pharmacokinetics. Me-too drugs can also demonstrate incremental innovation. Their availability may help in coping with drug shortages. However, they may occasionally cause unexpected adverse reactions that are not class effects. Tricyclic antidepressants, β-blockers, and statins illustrate the diversity of me-too drugs. Earlier compounds may be as effective as later ones, or more so. Tricyclic antidepressants have similar chemical structures, and compounds introduced after the first-in-class compound (imipramine) mostly offered little in the way of innovative features, but continue to be prescribed. In contrast, me-too β-blockers introduced after the first-in-class compound, pronethalol, have diverse structures and display several innovative features. Stereoisomers and biosimilars/biobetters provide special examples of me-too drugs. Although many me-too drugs offer no significant advantages over their predecessors, over 60% of the drugs listed on the World Health Organization's essential list are me-toos. Different countries may choose different me-too drugs when constructing essential medicines lists, partly explaining transnational differences between them.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.