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UC San Diego Releases Public GNPS Drug Library to Identify Drug Exposure From Patient Samples

Using mass spectrometry, the tool provides chemical evidence of real‑world drug exposure across patients, population cohorts, foods, environmental samples.

Overview

  • UC San Diego researchers published the GNPS Drug Library and a free online analysis app in Nature Communications on December 9, 2025.
  • The reference compiles mass‑spectrometry fingerprints for 4,723 drugs plus nearly 100,000 documented breakdown elements to enable untargeted detection across sample types.
  • Validation detected 75 distinct drugs in nearly 2,000 American Gut Project samples and showed regional and sex‑linked differences in exposure patterns.
  • Disease and clinical cohorts showed expected medication signatures and co‑medications, with HIV analyses linking specific antivirals to shifts in gut‑derived molecules.
  • Testing of more than 3,000 food products identified antibiotics in meat and a pesticide in vegetables, and the team plans to expand curation using large language models and generative AI.