Drug development and hormesis: changing conceptual understanding of the dose response creates new challenges and opportunities for more effective drugs.

This review proposes that the emerging acceptance of the hormetic dose-response model in toxicology and pharmacology has the potential to significantly change important aspects of drug development. Two situations where the hormesis concept may affect drug development are considered: one in which low-dose stimulation may represent an adverse/unwanted effect (eg, stimulation of tumor cell proliferation by antitumor drugs), the other in which low-dose stimulation defines the therapeutic zone (ie, a beneficial or intended effect; eg, cognition enhancement in Alzheimer's disease treatment). Examples are used to demonstrate that the hormetic dose-response model has implications for the definition of an ideal candidate for a therapeutic agent, as well as implications for study designs needed to assess the quantitative features of the dose-response relationship.