On 24-26 September 2025, representatives from the entire drug repurposing ecosystem gathered in Barcelona for RExPO25, the fourth edition of the international series of conferences organised and hosted by REPO4EU.
Under the premise of being at the heart of latent discussions shaping the future of medicine, this year’s conference brought together leading voices from academia, industry, policy, HTA bodies and patient-focused organisations to explore how systems medicine, artificial intelligence and innovative regulatory and reimbursement approaches can accelerate drug repurposing for the benefit of patients across Europe.
Building on the momentum of previous editions, RExPO offered once again a truly interdisciplinary programme, reflecting on how far the field has matured and how close repurposing is to delivering real-world clinical and societal impact, according to RExPO25 Co-chairs Harald Schmidt, Head of Pharmacology at Maastricht University and REPO4EU Coordinator, and Emrey Guney, CTO and Head of Discovery & Data Science at STALICLA.
“Over the years organising this conference, we have learned a lot about the challenges, the use cases and the stakeholders involved. We are now entering a phase where we see validations, specifically in cancer and Alzheimer’s trials, and the focus is increasingly on precision and clinical proof. This year, we really tried to cover all of this in a broad and interdisciplinary manner,” explained Prof. Schmidt.
From computational discovery to clinical validation
The RExPO25 agenda spanned the full drug repurposing pipeline, from advanced computational methodologies and systems biology approaches, to clinical validation and implementation.
Over 60 international speakers, spread across 15 sessions, delivered talks highlighting how AI-driven modelling, multi-omics integration and network-based approaches are enabling researchers to identify new therapeutic indications for diseases that have yet to find a viable cure – one that targets the root cause, and not merely treats its symptoms.
Several speakers emphasised that the field is now moving beyond proof-of-concept towards tangible clinical evidence, but also stressed the importance of maintaining robust, trustworthy frameworks when applying AI in biomedicine.
“We are living in an incredible moment where many developments are crystallising into reality. The computational capacity in Europe is growing, and artificial intelligence is at the centre of this, but we must keep an equilibrium — with trusted frameworks, scientific rigour and an understanding of real clinical constraints,” said Alfonso Valencia, Director of the Life Sciences department at Barcelona Supercomputing Center.
“We need drugs to treat diseases, but developing drugs is a complex challenge. This is where the idea of repositioning drugs from one indication to another is extremely powerful, but if we want to do this in a more effective way, we still need more knowledge,” added Prof. Valencia during his RExPO25 Honorary Lecture.
Regulation, reimbursement and access: confronting the real hurdles
Beyond scientific and technological advances, RExPO25 placed strong emphasis on the role of regulation, health technology assessment (HTA), reimbursement and market access — which are deemed amongst the community as some of the biggest hurdles for bringing repurposed medicines to patients.
Some of the experts representing payers and HTA bodies brought critical perspectives to the conversation. For instance, Sibylle Reichert, Executive Director at International Association of Mutuals (AIM), reinforced the fact that protecting universal access to healthcare is crucial in Europe, which means medicines must remain affordable, accessible and available. “That’s why reimbursement organisations are such important players in this space,” she said.
Following this thread, the discussions underscored that science, regulation and reimbursement cannot be treated as separate worlds, as Anja Schiel, Senior Advisor at Norwegian Medicinal Products Agency (NOMA), put it: “You cannot disconnect science from reimbursement decisions. Repurposing is a no‑brainer when it comes to savings and equity, but collaboration and knowledge transfer across stakeholders is essential.”
Also reflecting on the need to balance accessibility with incentives for innovation, Lynn Durham, CEO and Founder of STALICLA, highlighted that researchers operating in this space believe in the common good, but they operate in a system that is strongly tied to regulation and private investment.
“That’s why we need to strike a balance between accessible pricing and acceptable returns, so that drug repurposing can be sustainable,” Durham added.
Looking ahead — together
A recurring theme throughout RExPO25 was the need for systems-level thinking and collective innovation. Speakers repeatedly highlighted that no single discipline, sector or stakeholder can advance drug repurposing alone. This collaborative spirit was reflected not only in the programme but also in the openness of discussions across collectives that have traditionally worked in silos.
As the fourth edition of RExPO concluded, one message was clear: drug repurposing is no longer a niche concept, but a powerful and increasingly validated strategy to address unmet medical needs more efficiently. The challenge now lies in scaling these successes through coordinated scientific, regulatory and economic frameworks, built by many hands working together.
RExPO25 also reinforced the role of REPO4EU as a central platform for this dialogue, and set the stage for the next steps towards making repurposed, precision therapies accessible to patients across Europe.
About RExPO25
RExPO25, the 4th edition of our international series of conferences dedicated to Systems Medicine, Artificial Intelligence and Drug Repurposing, took place in Barcelona on 24-26 September 2025.
Revisit the conference
Curious to learn more? Watch our video compilation for RExPO25