The possible use of finasteride -- a drug associated with hair loss treatment -- to help prevent prostate cancer is just one example of how a well-known drug may have a surprising alternative use.
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Would you take a baldness drug to protect against prostate cancer? Or Viagra to help avoid an amputation?
While most people think of medicines as single-role actors, there are a growing number of drugs that hold the potential for dual uses. This so-called "off-label" use of medicines accounts for about one-fifth of all prescriptions, according to a study released last April in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Many such applications come with their fair share of controversy.
In the aforementioned example of the hair-loss drug finasteride being recommended by some medical organizations as a preventative measure against prostate cancer, many doctors say that such a use is inefficient and ill-advised.
In the case of Viagra, no conclusive studies yet exist that confirm a definite benefit when used in patients at risk of amputation.
But in many other cases, the alternative uses are well-known in the medical community -- though perhaps not among the general public -- and are regularly exploited.
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And while a November article in the journal Pharmacotherapy warned doctors to exercise more scrutiny in their prescription of drugs for purposes other than their primary intended use, it is clear that some of these MacGyvers of the pharmaceutical world are destined for double duty in the years to come.
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