A new era for drug repurposing

Mechanism-based drug repurposing will revolutionize the way we approach drugs. It will help us find new uses for already registered drugs, increase precision and radically cut down on costs and time in the drug development process. Ultimately, this paradigm shift will streamline the transition to clinical trials that are fit-for-purpose, innovation-driven & compliant with the highest standards in safety & operational excellence.

Drug Repurposing Central is funded and managed by REPO4EU and open to all researchers in the field of drug repurposing.

Open Science is an approach to scientific research that emphasizes transparency, collaboration, and accessibility with the aim of making results, data, and methods publicly available to the global community. In their Open Science recommendations the European Commission and UNESCO have set goals to increase the overall quality (research integrity) and impact of scientific research by promoting Open Science practices such as Open Access publishing and open data sharing. The field of biomedicine has been one of the biggest drivers behind the Open Science movement because of its public impact - patient groups and lay public have effectively pushed for access to research articles and data paid for with public funds that may immediately affect their health or treatments. In the field of drug repurposing, balancing Open Science with the goals for patenting new medications to bring to market and guaranteeing compliance with data privacy can be challenging. However, Open Science practices can enhance collaboration, reproducibility and digital solutions, leading to more efficient and effective research, and ultimately, the development of new and better treatments for and with patients.

This Open Science publishing and research portal combines early and open access to research results as preprints, open peer review, open access publishing, alternative metrics, and an interactive bibliography of relevant research around drug repurposing that highlights the outputs of a range of drug repurposing projects.

The portal aims to go beyond Open Access publishing with an Open Science approach that maximises the interoperability of research outputs in a digital context through the consistent use of persistent identifiers and XML standards. A unique workflow based on posting research results as Open Access preprints for open community peer review will include an automated check for scientific rigour, a built-in check for IP protection and an infrastructure of open peer review. Alternative metrics and measures of usage and impact must be built into the system as incentives and rewards while detailed reporting is required for impact assessment within the project and beyond.

DrugRxiv is an open community resource for preprints from the field of Drug Repurposing. A preprint is a preliminary version of a scientific manuscript shared by an author through posting to an online, public server prior to formal peer review. Preprints have increasingly become an essential part of Open Science approaches because they combine early and open sharing of research results with open access and open peer review. All of the research in this collection has not been officially peer reviewed so view each preprint a work in progress and support the community by commenting or reviewing preprints in your field. You can learn more about preprints from the ASAPBio preprint Frequently Asked Questions.

You can check whether the journal you would like to publish in accepts manuscripts posted as preprints: ASAPBio Journal Policies

This preprint Collection is currently funded and managed by RePo4EU but it is open to all researchers in the field of Drug Repurposing.

Drug Repurposing Central hosts 2 Diamond Open Access journals.

Drug Repurposing

The aim of the journal Drug Repurposing journal is to provide an interdisciplinary and cross-sectional overview of the various fields of research and applied sciences that work together to make successful drug repurposing projects a reality. Its scope covers high-throughput and high-content screening, in silico docking studies, pathway-based molecular pharmacology, bioinformatics, mining of peer-reviewed literature, patent documents, and side effect records, and design of drug repurposing trials are all part of this. The journal welcomes manuscripts that address strategic and ethical issues that are relevant in the broader context of drug repurposing, such as regulatory affairs, health technology assessment, and intellectual property. Contributions that emphasize the specific integrative aspects of drug repurposing are of particular interest.

Network Medicine

The journal Network Medicine focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to exploiting the power of big data by applying network science and systems thinking to medicine. The goal is to yield major breakthroughs towards mechanism-based re-definitions of diseases for high-precision diagnostics and treatments. The journal publishes high quality basic science, translational, and clinical research. The scope includes: network science applied to medicine; Mechanism-based disease definitions, diagnostics and therapies; network medicine and network pharmacology; Multiscale modeling and medical simulation; Multiscale medical data science and computing; Virtual patient repositories and data analytics platforms; Big data analytics in precision medicine; Clinical validation of systems medicine approaches (including quali-quantitative methods); Multiscale approaches, e.g. translational and qualitative research and psycho-sociological variables; Implementing systemic management in medicine in organizations and integrated healthcare networks; Educational and training articles in systems medicine and network medicine methodologies for clinicians.

Here is the current list of projects on Drug Repurposing Central: