Oncology applications

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) · Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)

Robertium's cross-domain methodology has been applied to two cancer domains: pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and glioblastoma multiforme. Both are characterized by limited treatment options and high unmet medical need, making them natural targets for drug repurposing research.

By the numbers

877
cross-domain
hypotheses
109
high-confidence
candidates
399
novel candidates
(no existing trial)
51
active clinical
trials reproduced

Counts include hypotheses where pancreatic cancer or glioblastoma is either the drug-source domain or the outcome domain. A single hypothesis may bridge into a neurology domain (e.g. PDAC drug → mediator → Alzheimer's).

Featured hypotheses

Selected high-quality candidates surfaced through shared molecular mediators. Each card links to the full evidence chain in the catalog.

carbamazepine → KRAS → pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
epilepsy → pancreatic cancer via gene

Suggests carbamazepine (an Epilepsy drug) binds to KRAS, which is associated with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

novel no trial
score 0.300 1 + 9 evidence papers
osimertinib → EGFR → pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
glioblastoma → pancreatic cancer via protein

Suggests osimertinib (a Glioblastoma drug) inhibits EGFR, which is associated with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

partial no trial
score 0.416 3 + 3 evidence papers
erlotinib → EGFR → glioblastoma
pancreatic cancer → glioblastoma via protein

Suggests erlotinib (a Pancreatic cancer drug) inhibits EGFR, which is associated with glioblastoma.

known trial completed
score 0.457 6 + 2 evidence papers
valproic acid → PKM2 → poor overall survival
epilepsy → pancreatic cancer via protein

Suggests valproic acid (an Epilepsy drug) downregulates PKM2, which is associated with poor overall survival.

novel no trial
score 0.373 1 + 5 evidence papers
metformin → mTOR → glioblastoma
alzheimer → glioblastoma via protein

Suggests metformin (an Alzheimer drug) inhibits mTOR, which is associated with glioblastoma.

known trial active
score 0.312 1 + 3 evidence papers
niclosamide → mTOR → glioblastoma
als → glioblastoma via protein

Suggests niclosamide (an ALS drug) inhibits mTOR, which is associated with glioblastoma.

known no trial
score 0.312 1 + 3 evidence papers
olanzapine → EGFR → glioblastoma
depression → glioblastoma via gene

Suggests olanzapine (a Depression drug) binds to EGFR, which is associated with glioblastoma.

known trial active
score 0.277 1 + 7 evidence papers
cetuximab → EGFR → glioblastoma aggressiveness
pancreatic cancer → glioblastoma via protein

Suggests cetuximab (a Pancreatic cancer drug) binds to EGFR, which is associated with glioblastoma aggressiveness.

novel no trial
score 0.277 7 + 1 evidence papers
osimertinib → EGFR → AGR2-dependent oncogenic phenotypes
glioblastoma → pancreatic cancer via protein

Suggests osimertinib (a Glioblastoma drug) inhibits EGFR, which is associated with AGR2-dependent oncogenic phenotypes.

novel no trial
score 0.312 3 + 1 evidence papers

Browse all pancreatic cancer hypotheses → · Browse all glioblastoma hypotheses →

Methodology note

These hypotheses were surfaced using the same Swanson ABC reasoning applied across all of Robertium's domains: identifying cases where a drug literature and a disease literature share an intermediate mediator but rarely cite each other. Full methodology is described at /method.

Why this matters

PDAC has had no major treatment breakthroughs in 15 years and a 5-year survival rate below 12%. KRAS mutations drive over 90% of PDAC, yet remained "undruggable" until recently and treatment options remain limited. Glioblastoma has a median survival of 14–18 months despite maximal treatment. Cross-domain literature analysis offers a complementary path to identifying drugs from other therapeutic areas that may target these pathways.

Open data

  • Full catalog — the complete cross-domain hypothesis set is at /hypotheses, filterable by drug or outcome domain.
  • Archived dataset — the hypothesis catalog is permanently archived on Zenodo: 10.5281/zenodo.20110977.
  • License — source code under MIT, extracted data under CC-BY-4.0.
  • Contact — if you research pancreatic cancer or glioblastoma and want to discuss specific candidates, reach out to daniel@robertium.com.