Pleiotropy (drugs) Pleiotropy (drugs) In pharmacology, pleiotropy includes all of a drug's actions other than those for which the agent was specifically developed. It may include adverse effects which are detrimental ones, but is often used to denote additional beneficial effects. For example, statins are HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors that primarily act by decreasing cholesterol synthesis, but which are believed to have other beneficial effects, including acting as antioxidants and stabilizing atherosclerotic plaques. Steroid drugs, such as prednisone and prednisolone, have pleiotropic effects, including systemic ones, for the same reason that endogenous steroid hormones do too: cells throughout the body have receptors that
Specialty drugs in the United States were 10 specialty drugs on the market. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, by the mid-1990s, there were fewer than 30 specialty drugs on the market, but by 2008 that number had increased to 200. Specialty drugs may also be designated as orphan drugs or ultra-orphan drugs under the U. S. Orphan Drug Act of 1983. This was enacted to facilitate development of orphan drugs—drugs for rare diseases such as Huntington's disease, myoclonus, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Tourette syndrome and muscular dystrophy which affect small numbers of individuals residing in the United States. Not all specialty drugs are orphan