FAIRplus use case IMI CARE: Quick-response COVID-19 effort opens FAIR data on ~5,500 compounds

The IMI CARE project was initiated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with the goal to deliver treatments for COVID-19 and future coronavirus outbreaks. Started in April 2020, CARE not only focuses on delivering novel drugs designed specifically to treat COVID-19 and other coronaviruses, but also on ‘repurposing’ approved drugs and drug candidates that were originally developed for other diseases that could potentially treat COVID-19. By making CARE data public, it also helps other drug repurposing studies. The CARE project is sharing its scientific results through open-access platforms and peer-reviewed journals, as well as via relevant conferences and other events.

Recently, in the context of the CARE project, Janssen Pharmaceutica published a dataset in the public domain describing the results of ~5,500 FDA-approved drugs and clinical candidates that have passed Phase I studies which were screened for anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. The FAIRplus squad team supported the Janssen Pharmaceutica coronavirus discovery team to improve findability, interoperability, and reuse of the drug data.