{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T13:37:19Z","timestamp":1785418639363,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782864000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000780","name":"European Union","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["European Union NextGenerationEU procedure \u201cCreating a network of research universities\u201d from the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience, project \u201cResearch University, Medical University, Pleven\u201d, contract #BG-RRP-2.004-0003-C01.: contract #BG-RRP-2.004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["European Union NextGenerationEU procedure \u201cCreating a network of research universities\u201d from the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience, project \u201cResearch University, Medical University, Pleven\u201d, contract #BG-RRP-2.004-0003-C01.: contract #BG-RRP-2.004"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000780","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["European Union NextGenerationEU procedure \u201cCreating a network of research universities\u201d from the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience, project \u201cResearch University, Medical University, Pleven\u201d, contract #BG-RRP-2.004-0003-C01.: contract #BG-RRP-2.004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["European Union NextGenerationEU procedure \u201cCreating a network of research universities\u201d from the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience, project \u201cResearch University, Medical University, Pleven\u201d, contract #BG-RRP-2.004-0003-C01.: contract #BG-RRP-2.004"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/019w4f821","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pharmacy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Oncology conditions are increasingly defined by their molecular profiles, and drug repurposing exploits this new evidence to identify new therapeutic uses of authorized\/investigational medicinal products outside their original indication(s). This scoping review mapped original research published between January 2022 and December 2024 to determine the impact of automated processes and artificial intelligence in generating oncology candidates for drug repositioning, and 42 individual projects met the eligibility criteria and were analyzed. The included studies demonstrate extensive use of computational approaches for candidate prioritization, large-scale data integration, and hypothesis generation in oncology drug repurposing, creating opportunities for positive impact on efficiency. The included projects most commonly were target-oriented and disease-oriented and used multiple databases and computational validation procedures, while experimental and clinical validation were less frequently reported. The available open-access literature suggests substantial activity in China and India, which can support the notion that digitalization represents an important instrument in healthcare systems of low- and middle-income countries but should be interpreted cautiously. While the search was limited to PubMed and open-access English-language publications, we identified a relatively small number of drug-oriented projects, the importance of providing publicly accessible source code to reduce development costs, and the predominant role of academic institutions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pharmacy14040096","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T12:41:38Z","timestamp":1782909698000},"page":"96","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Automated Processes and Artificial Intelligence in Generating Candidates for Oncology Drug Repurposing: Three-Year Scoping Review of Data"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-5691-5410","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Antonio","family":"Ivanov","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Organization and Economics of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University-Sofia, 2, Dunav Str., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ines","family":"Hababa-Ivanova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Organization and Economics of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University-Sofia, 2, Dunav Str., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6549-1267","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Savina","family":"Elitova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Organization and Economics of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University-Sofia, 2, Dunav Str., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6165-5674","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Svetoslav","family":"Stoev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Social Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University-Pleven, 5800 Pleven, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7103-3892","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Violeta","family":"Getova-Kolarova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Organization and Economics of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University-Sofia, 2, Dunav Str., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1145","DOI":"10.1111\/jphp.13273","article-title":"Drug Repositioning: A Brief Overview","volume":"72","author":"Jourdan","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Pharm. Pharmacol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"829","DOI":"10.1080\/17460441.2021.1912733","article-title":"Is Drug Repurposing Really the Future of Drug Discovery or Is New Innovation Truly the Way Forward?","volume":"16","author":"Gil","year":"2021","journal-title":"Expert Opin. Drug Discov."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1043","DOI":"10.1016\/j.csbj.2020.04.004","article-title":"Drug Repositioning or Target Repositioning: A Structural Perspective of Drug-Target-Indication Relationship for Available Repurposed Drugs","volume":"18","author":"Parisi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Comput. Struct. Biotechnol. J."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"325","DOI":"10.1093\/bib\/bbu010","article-title":"Toward More Realistic Drug\u2013Target Interaction Predictions","volume":"16","author":"Pahikkala","year":"2015","journal-title":"Brief. Bioinform."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"i246","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/btq176","article-title":"Drug-Target Interaction Prediction from Chemical, Genomic and Pharmacological Data in an Integrated Framework","volume":"26","author":"Yamanishi","year":"2010","journal-title":"Bioinformatics"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"460","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compbiolchem.2018.11.028","article-title":"Prediction of Drug-Target Interaction by Integrating Diverse Heterogeneous Information Source with Multiple Kernel Learning and Clustering Methods","volume":"78","author":"Yan","year":"2019","journal-title":"Comput. Biol. Chem."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sahoo, B.M., Ravi Kumar, B.V.V., Sruti, J., Mahapatra, M.K., Banik, B.K., and Borah, P. (2021). Drug Repurposing Strategy (DRS): Emerging Approach to Identify Potential Therapeutics for Treatment of Novel Coronavirus Infection. Front. Mol. Biosci., 8.","DOI":"10.3389\/fmolb.2021.628144"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Neves, B.J., Braga, R.C., Melo-Filho, C.C., Moreira-Filho, J.T., Muratov, E.N., and Andrade, C.H. (2018). QSAR-Based Virtual Screening: Advances and Applications in Drug Discovery. Front. Pharmacol., 9.","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2018.01275"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Batool, M., Ahmad, B., and Choi, S. (2019). A Structure-Based Drug Discovery Paradigm. Int. J. Mol. Sci., 20.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms20112783"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"335","DOI":"10.1038\/clpt.2013.1","article-title":"Computational Drug Repositioning: From Data to Therapeutics","volume":"93","author":"Hurle","year":"2013","journal-title":"Clin. Pharmacol. Ther."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drudis.2011.09.019","article-title":"Retrospective Clinical Analysis for Drug Rescue: For New Indications or Stratified Patient Groups","volume":"17","author":"Cavalla","year":"2012","journal-title":"Drug Discov. Today"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"36181","DOI":"10.1039\/D1RA05320E","article-title":"Computational Methods Directed towards Drug Repurposing for COVID-19: Advantages and Limitations","volume":"11","author":"Sharma","year":"2021","journal-title":"RSC Adv."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drudis.2021.08.002","article-title":"Evaluating the Performance of Drug-Repurposing Technologies","volume":"27","author":"Schuler","year":"2022","journal-title":"Drug Discov. Today"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1087","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ygeno.2019.06.021","article-title":"Drug Databases and Their Contributions to Drug Repurposing","volume":"112","author":"Omidi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Genomics"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.7326\/M18-0850","article-title":"PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR): Checklist and Explanation","volume":"169","author":"Tricco","year":"2018","journal-title":"Ann. Intern. Med."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1847","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drudis.2022.03.006","article-title":"Structure-based drug repurposing: Traditional and advanced AI\/ML-aided methods","volume":"27","author":"Choudhury","year":"2022","journal-title":"Drug Discov. Today"},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"(2026, January 04). An Open Source Pharma Roadmap|PLoS Medicine. Available online: https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosmedicine\/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1002276#sec003."},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"(2026, January 04). RepoDrug. Available online: https:\/\/repurposedrugs.aittokallio.group\/."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"753","DOI":"10.2147\/DDDT.S46289","article-title":"Open-Source Approaches for the Repurposing of Existing or Failed Candidate Drugs: Learning from and Applying the Lessons across Diseases","volume":"7","author":"Allarakhia","year":"2013","journal-title":"Drug Des. Dev. Ther."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"148","DOI":"10.3390\/covid2020011","article-title":"A Comprehensive Review of Drug Repurposing Strategies against Known Drug Targets of COVID-19","volume":"2","author":"Khataniar","year":"2022","journal-title":"COVID"},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"(2026, January 04). Three Controversies in Health Data Science|International Journal of Data Science and Analytics. Available online: https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s41060-018-0109."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Global Biodata Coalition (2022). Global Core Biodata Resources: Concept and Selection Process, Global Biodata Coalition."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e42615","DOI":"10.2196\/42615","article-title":"Digital Health Data Quality Issues: Systematic Review","volume":"25","author":"Syed","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Med. Internet Res."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"(2026, January 04). Evaluation and Validation|Workforce, Training and Education|NHS England. Available online: https:\/\/digital-transformation.hee.nhs.uk\/building-a-digital-workforce\/dart-ed\/horizon-scanning\/understanding-healthcare-workers-confidence-in-ai\/chapter-3-governance\/evaluation-and-validation."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"61","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ddstr.2011.10.002","article-title":"Drug Repurposing from an Academic Perspective","volume":"8","author":"Oprea","year":"2011","journal-title":"Drug Discov. Today Ther. Strateg."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"(2026, January 04). The REMEDi4ALL Drug Repurposing Bootcamp for Academics. Available online: https:\/\/remedi4all.org\/repurposing-bootcamp-for-academics\/."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Niazi, S.K. (2025). Artificial Intelligence in Small-Molecule Drug Discovery: A Critical Review of Methods, Applications, and Real-World Outcomes. Pharmaceuticals, 18.","DOI":"10.3390\/ph18091271"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"559","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pharma.2026.01.007","article-title":"A Review Exploring the Translational Perspective of Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery and Formulation Development","volume":"84","author":"Agarwal","year":"2026","journal-title":"Ann. Pharm. Fr."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"711","DOI":"10.21037\/atm.2019.11.108","article-title":"Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve Medical Services in China","volume":"8","author":"Li","year":"2020","journal-title":"Ann. Transl. Med."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gore, M.N., and Olawade, D.B. (2024). Harnessing AI for Public Health: India\u2019s Roadmap. Front. Public Health, 12.","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1417568"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"152","DOI":"10.4103\/jrpp.jrpp_50_25","article-title":"Evaluating the Role of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Oncology Drug Repurposing Efforts","volume":"14","author":"Mann","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Res. Pharm. Pract."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gangwal, A., Ansari, A., Ahmad, I., Azad, A.K., Kumarasamy, V., Subramaniyan, V., and Wong, L.S. (2024). Generative artificial intelligence in drug discovery: Basic framework, recent advances, challenges, and opportunities. Front. Pharmacol., 15.","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2024.1331062"}],"container-title":["Pharmacy"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2226-4787\/14\/4\/96\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T15:02:37Z","timestamp":1782918157000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2226-4787\/14\/4\/96"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]},"references-count":32,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8]]}},"alternative-id":["pharmacy14040096"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/pharmacy14040096","relation":{},"ISSN":["2226-4787"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2226-4787","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]}}}