Understanding Drug Repurposing From the Perspective of Biomedical Entities and Their Evolution: Bibliographic Research Using Aspirin

Xin Li; Justin F Rousseau; Ying Ding; Min Song; Wei Lu

doi:10.2196/16739

Understanding Drug Repurposing From the Perspective of Biomedical Entities and Their Evolution: Bibliographic Research Using Aspirin

JMIR Med Inform. 2020 Jun 16;8(6):e16739. doi: 10.2196/16739.

Authors

Xin Li^{1

2}, Justin F Rousseau³, Ying Ding⁴, Min Song⁵, Wei Lu¹

Affiliations

¹ Information Retrieval and Knowledge Mining Laboratory, School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
² School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States.
³ Department of Population Health and Department of Neurology, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
⁴ School of Information, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
⁵ Department of Library and Information Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

PMID: 32543442
PMCID: PMC7327595
DOI: 10.2196/16739

Abstract

Background: Drug development is still a costly and time-consuming process with a low rate of success. Drug repurposing (DR) has attracted significant attention because of its significant advantages over traditional approaches in terms of development time, cost, and safety. Entitymetrics, defined as bibliometric indicators based on biomedical entities (eg, diseases, drugs, and genes) studied in the biomedical literature, make it possible for researchers to measure knowledge evolution and the transfer of drug research.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand DR from the perspective of biomedical entities (diseases, drugs, and genes) and their evolution.

Methods: In the work reported in this paper, we extended the bibliometric indicators of biomedical entities mentioned in PubMed to detect potential patterns of biomedical entities in various phases of drug research and investigate the factors driving DR. We used aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) as the subject of the study since it can be repurposed for many applications. We propose 4 easy, transparent measures based on entitymetrics to investigate DR for aspirin: Popularity Index (P₁), Promising Index (P₂), Prestige Index (P₃), and Collaboration Index (CI).

Results: We found that the maxima of P₁, P₃, and CI are closely associated with the different repurposing phases of aspirin. These metrics enabled us to observe the way in which biomedical entities interacted with the drug during the various phases of DR and to analyze the potential driving factors for DR at the entity level. P₁ and CI were indicative of the dynamic trends of a specific biomedical entity over a long time period, while P₂ was more sensitive to immediate changes. P₃ reflected the early signs of the practical value of biomedical entities and could be valuable for tracking the research frontiers of a drug.

Conclusions: In-depth studies of side effects and mechanisms, fierce market competition, and advanced life science technologies are driving factors for DR. This study showcases the way in which researchers can examine the evolution of DR using entitymetrics, an approach that can be valuable for enhancing decision making in the field of drug discovery and development.

Keywords: acetylsalicylic acid; aspirin; bibliometrics; biomedical entities; drug repurposing; entitymetrics.

©Xin Li, Justin F. Rousseau, Ying Ding, Min Song, Wei Lu. Originally published in JMIR Medical Informatics (http://medinform.jmir.org), 16.06.2020.