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Call for papers - Drug repurposing for anticancer therapies

Guest Editors

Shreyas Ramchandra Gaikwad, PhD, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, USA
K Ramanathan, BTech, MTech, PhD, Vellore Institute of Technology, India

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 26 May 2025

BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology is calling for submissions to our Collection on Drug repurposing for anticancer therapies. Drug repurposing is an alternative strategy to explore novel anticancer potential of drugs originally approved for one medical indication and to treat different types of cancer. 

This Collection aims to highlight the latest advancements and methodologies in drug repurposing for cancer treatment. We welcome original research that explores innovative approaches and successful applications of repurposed drugs in oncology. Contributions that delve into both experimental and computational methods, as well as studies on pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and clinical applications, are particularly encouraged. Through this Collection, we hope to accelerate the discovery of new therapeutic options and improve outcomes for cancer patients.

New Content ItemThis Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being. 

Meet the Guest Editors

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Shreyas Ramchandra Gaikwad, PhD, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, USA

Dr Shreyas Gaikwad has completed his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He has experience in drug development with a focus on drug repurposing and identifying novel immunomodulatory agents which can be used with immunotherapies for cancer treatment. Dr Gaikwad also has an experience in developing bioprinted tumor models and organ-on-chip systems for modelling tumor microenvironment in vitro as platforms for drug screening.

K Ramanathan, BTech, MTech, PhD, Vellore Institute of Technology, India

Dr K Ramanathan is a Professor HAG at the School of Bio Sciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, India. He has broad interests in the area of bioinformatics, precision medicine and big data science. Ramanathan received prestigious ICMR International Fellowship award for the Young Biomedical Scientist for the year 2018-19 to execute Post-Doctoral research at Purdue University, USA. He has more than 19 years of research experience in molecular simulation study and drug resistance analysis and has authored/co-authored more than 165 papers in these areas. In addition to his independent research projects to study drug resistance pattern in cancer, Dr Ramanathan has also actively collaborated with investigators university-wide, nationally and internationally.

About the Collection

BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology is calling for submissions to our Collection on Drug repurposing for anticancer therapies. Cancer is a cluster of diseases caused by uncontrolled cell growth with the potential to spread to other body tissues and imposes a huge financial burden on patients worldwide, triggering novel therapeutic strategies. Drug repurposing is such an alternative strategy to explore novel anticancer potential of drugs originally approved for one medical indication and to treat different types of cancer. The development and advancement of drug repurposing will be dependent on availability of big data, clinical and non-clinical resources, and AI- and other related technologies. The primary stages of drug repurposing include identifying the core targets of specific cancer, evaluating drug efficacy by in vitro/vivo models, and proceeding to clinical trials. The drug repurposing, compared to traditional drug development with high drug attrition and cost, offers a faster and more cost-efficient approach, leveraging the known safety and pharmacologic profiles of existing drugs. 

This Collection aims to highlight the latest advancements and methodologies in drug repurposing for cancer treatment. We welcome original research that explores innovative approaches and successful applications of repurposed drugs in oncology. Contributions that delve into both experimental and computational methods, as well as studies on pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and clinical applications, are particularly encouraged. Through this Collection, we hope to accelerate the discovery of new therapeutic options and improve outcomes for cancer patients.

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being.

Image credit: © jittawit.21 / Stock.adobe.com

  1. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a new oral selective estrogen receptor downregulator for breast cancer, namely, elacestrant (Orserdu). This study aimed to analyze the signals of adverse ...

    Authors: Ziyi Fan, Yanan Xu, Shuding Guo and Bin Song
    Citation: BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology 2025 26:56
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. In the past few years, an increasing number of research studies have documented the utilization of durvalumab in the field of immunotherapy for cancerous tumors. However, there remains insufficient documentati...

    Authors: Ting Zou, Zhuoyang Li, Tianhong Wang, Shuang Deng, Siman Wang and Yusi Hua
    Citation: BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology 2024 25:97
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Drug repurposing for anticancer therapies" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.