Drug repositioning for Parkinson's disease: An emphasis on artificial intelligence approaches

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most incapacitating neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). PD is the second most common NDD worldwide which affects approximately 1-2 percent of people over 65 years. It is an attractive pursuit for artificial intelligence (AI) to contribute to and evolve PD treatments through drug repositioning by repurposing existing drugs, shelved drugs, or even candidates that do not meet the criteria for clinical trials. A search was conducted in three databases Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. We reviewed the data related to the last years (1975-present) to identify those drugs currently being proposed for repositioning in PD. Moreover, we reviewed the present status of the computational approach, including AI/Machine Learning (AI/ML)-powered pharmaceutical discovery efforts and their implementation in PD treatment. It was found that the number of drug repositioning studies for PD has increased recently. Repositioning of drugs in PD is taking off, and scientific communities are increasingly interested in communicating its results and finding effective treatment alternatives for PD. A better chance of success in PD drug discovery has been made possible due to AI/ML algorithm advancements. In addition to the experimentation stage of drug discovery, it is also important to leverage AI in the planning stage of clinical trials to make them more effective. New AI-based models or solutions that increase the success rate of drug development are greatly needed.