Drug Discovery Research in and for the Global South

Drug discovery remains unevenly distributed worldwide. While many countries in the Global South carry a high burden of infectious, neglected, inflammatory, and chronic diseases, research in these settings often advances under constraints in funding, infrastructure, and access to enabling technologies. Even so, these regions are producing important work across the discovery pipeline, from target identification and molecular design to biological evaluation and early preclinical studies. Much of this research addresses diseases that continue to cause substantial morbidity and mortality locally, despite receiving limited attention in mainstream drug development. Greater visibility for this work is needed, not only to recognize its scientific value, but also to strengthen collaboration and support therapeutic progress in areas of clear unmet need.

This Research Topic aims to bring together drug discovery research conducted in the Global South, as well as studies from elsewhere that directly address health priorities in these regions. We welcome submissions focused on diseases that remain highly relevant in low- and middle-income countries, including neglected tropical diseases, regionally important infections, inflammatory disorders, and other under-served conditions. We are particularly interested in studies that combine scientific rigor with translational relevance, and that offer practical paths toward new or improved therapies. By assembling contributions across disciplines, disease areas, and geographic settings, this collection seeks to highlight the breadth of drug discovery research linked to the Global South and to encourage wider exchange across the field.

The scope of this Research Topic spans early discovery through preclinical evaluation. We welcome original research, reviews, methods papers, proof-of-concept studies, and data-driven reports involving small molecules, peptides, nucleic acids, biologics, and combination strategies. Computational, experimental, and integrated approaches are all within scope. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Discovery and optimization of drug candidates for neglected, endemic, or regionally prevalent diseases

- Computational drug discovery, including molecular modeling, virtual screening, artificial intelligence, and data-driven approaches

- Immunoinformatics for immunodiagnostics and nanovaccine design

- Drug repurposing and combination strategies for unmet clinical needs

- Biologics, including therapeutic proteins, antibodies, cell therapies, gene therapies, and nanovaccine approaches

- Novel targets, pathways, and molecular mechanisms in health and disease

- Low-, medium-, and high-throughput screening approaches

- In vitro and in vivo disease models, including organoids and patient-derived systems

- ADME-tox and other early developability studies supporting lead optimization, including toxicoinformatics approaches for evaluating drug impurities and related safety risks

- Scalable and context-appropriate platforms for therapeutic innovation in under-resourced settings

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: global south, drug discovery

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.