Regulation of bone regeneration with approved small molecule compounds

Stimulation of bone formation using recombinant growth factors has been a promising strategy for bone repair and regeneration. However, small molecules have been suggested as alternatives to recombinant protein-based treatments because of their unique advantages. To date, therapeutic methods for orthopaedic applications still heavily rely on therapeutic protein-based growth factors. This trend is likely to be reversed since innovative drug discovery strategies, such as broad-spectrum database analysis and high throughput functional screens, have led to the discovery of many novel small molecule compounds and the development of novel applications of existing approved small molecule compounds. It should be noted that some of these small molecules with osteoinductive potential have been approved for human use due to their efficacy in treating other health ailments. Thus, these approved small molecule compounds are highly translatable to orthopaedic applications. In this article, we review the literature, paying attention to the prospects of existing approved small molecule therapeutics with bone regenerative capacity. Future directions of bone repair and regeneration using these approved small molecule drugs will be discussed as well.