Drug repositioning and an introduction to REPOTRIAL

Research and Development (R&D) approaches to drug discovery have become more costly and less fruitful. Drug companies are seeking new approaches to bring new drugs to market. One approach to drug discovery is that of drug repositioning which focusses on identifying novel uses for existing drugs. There is a growing number of examples of repurposed drugs that have been identified through serendipitous or rational observations. However, new, systematic methods are required to make the most of this opportunity. Systems level approaches that combine integrative approaches to data with network analysis algorithms offer an approach to automatically highlighting candidate drugs for repurposing and establishing the mechanistic basis for disease phenotypes. In this talk I will review our work in this area and introduce a new project, REPOTRIAL, which will build on concept to establish in-silico clinical trials for cerebro-cardiovascular phenotypes.