Skip to main content
HHS Logo U.S. Department of Health & Human Services NIH Logo National Institutes of Health

NCATS Pharmaceutical Collection

The NCATS Pharmaceutical Collection is a comprehensive, publicly accessible collection of approved molecular entities for high-throughput screening that provides a valuable resource for both validating new models of disease and better understanding the molecular basis of diseases and interventions.

About the NCATS Pharmaceutical Collection

Nearly 3,000 small molecular entities have been approved for clinical use by U.S., European Union, Japanese, Australian and Canadian authorities and also are suitable for high-throughput screening. Of these, we currently have 2,900 as part of our screening collection.

The collection already has generated several useful probes for studying a diverse cross section of biology, including novel targets and pathways. We provide access to the collection’s content through the Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases program and the Toxicology in the 21st Century initiative. A dedicated online browser enables searching and exporting. We make regular updates to the browser to improve features and content. Download the latest version.

Sources for the current collection include traditional chemical suppliers, specialty collections, pharmacies and custom synthesis. All data generated through this effort are deposited in PubChem, including the full concentration-response profile of each compound in each assay. Detailed information on the sourcing of the collection, including regulatory status, supplier information, compound structures, target information and indication, are made available as time permits.

We developed a new OpenData Portal to share COVID-19-related drug repurposing data and experiments for all approved drugs. To develop the portal, researchers used SARS-CoV-2-related assays to screen over 10,000 compounds, including the compounds from the NCATS Pharmaceutical Collection, for their activity against the virus.

View the infographic below to learn more about the NCATS Pharmaceutical Collection. The NCATS Pharmaceutical Collection is described in more detail in a recent publication and an NCATS Director’s Message.

The NCATS Pharmaceutical Collection (NPC) is a storehouse of approved drugs. Scientists use the collection to identify potential ways to repurpose drugs for new uses. Over the past 10 years, researchers used the NPC to study an array of pathways and disease models, generating an unparalleled amount of data. A number of projects produced drugs with new potential uses that have entered clinical trials, or have shown activity in testing, for several diseases and viruses. The NPC contains nearly 3,000 small molecule drugs. More than 300 requests for collaborations to screen the NPC resulted in 200 plus collaborative projects in such areas as rare and neglected diseases, infectious diseases and cancer. Illustration of a human body surrounded by names of several diseases that point to a specific location in the body.

(NCATS)

Last updated on October 11, 2024