Old Drugs for New Indications in Cardiovascular Medicine.

Inflammation participates in the initiation and progression of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and it is a critical inciting factor leading to acute ischemic events. Evidence has shown that certain anti-inflammatory medications used to treat non-atherosclerotic inflammatory diseases reduce cardiovascular events. This article reviews evidence that commonly used anti-inflammatory therapies (colchicine, allopurinol, methotrexate), reduce cardiovascular events. We discuss potential mechanisms of action, efficacy, and safety of these therapies and propose a clinical trials design to investigate their efficacy.