How Drug Repurposing Can Advance Drug Discovery: Challenges And Opportunities

Drug repurposing offers a cost-effective and faster alternative to traditional de novo drug discovery, which is often expensive and time-consuming. By leveraging existing chemical, biological, structural, and clinical data, drug repurposing can bring drugs to market in 3–12 years with an average investment of $300 million, compared to the 10–17 years and $2–3 billion typically required for new drug development. The integration of data mining and artificial intelligence in the big data era enhances the potential of drug repurposing to address unmet medical needs and achieve faster market access. Despite facing legal and regulatory challenges, drug repurposing is a vital strategy in precision medicine, offering new opportunities for compounds already in the pipeline.