An update on Drug Repurposing: Re-written saga of the drug’s fate

Abstract

Drug repurposing is an unconventional drug discovery approach to explore new therapeutic benefits of existing, shelved and the drugs in clinical trials. This approach is currently emerging to overcome the bottleneck constraints faced during traditional drug discovery in grounds of financial support, timeline and resources. In this direction, several efforts were made for the construction of stratagems based on bioinformatics and computational tools to intensify the repurposing process off-late. Further, advanced research has succeeded in widening its boundaries in identification of gene targets and subsequent molecular interactions of the drugs depending on available omics data. Currently, the advent of data repositories like Connectivity Map (CMap), Library Integrated Network based Cellular Signatures (LINCS), Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), Side Effect Resource (SIDER), and Directionality Map (DMAP) has bestowed great oppurtunity to the researchers in improving their drug repurposing research exponentially. On the otherhand, in silico approaches like pharmacophore modelling and docking techniques circumvent the routine tedious in vitro and in vivo techniques involved in former screening phases of the drugs and disease specific targets. This review elaborates on currently designed contemporary tools, databases and strategies with relevant case studies.