MetaCore / MetaDrug

Integrated manually curated knowledge database and pathway analysis software suite — Designed for multi-omics experimental data pathway analysis

MetaCore is Clarivate's integrated manually curated knowledge database and pathway analysis software suite, providing 100% manually curated and validated biological systems content, including molecular interactions defined by mechanism, directionality, and effect, enabling researchers to rapidly generate and validate hypotheses for novel biomarkers, drug targets, and mechanisms of action.

MetaCore's underlying knowledge base, MetaBase, is recognized as "the most comprehensive manually curated mammalian biology database on the market today" and is the only database that simultaneously provides directionality, mechanism, and effect attributes for all interactions. The companion product MetaDrug provides a systems pharmacology solution for predicting metabolism, toxicity, and biological effects of small molecule compounds.

MetaCore Factsheet

MetaCore — Analyze molecular pathways and accelerate discovery research, covering 4M+ manually curated molecular interactions and 1,500+ pathway maps

MetaBase Knowledge Base Coverage

4M+

Molecular Interactions

100% manually curated, each interaction with directionality, mechanism, and effect attributes — the only one on the market

1,500+

Canonical Pathway Maps

Signaling and metabolic pathway maps, with 1,100+ manually curated and validated networks

182K+

Gene-Disease Associations

Gene-disease association analysis covering 10,000+ diseases

750K+

Compounds

Compounds with targets and bioactivity, along with approximately 8,900 drug records

30K+

Metabolic Reactions

Including 5,300+ endogenous metabolites, supporting metabolomics analysis

2.5M+

Publication References

Continuously curated and updated by PhD and MD research professionals (25+ years of experience)

Core Features

Pathway Enrichment Analysis

Map experimental data to 1,500+ curated canonical pathway maps using hypergeometric distribution for statistical enrichment. Supports ontology enrichment across MetaCore pathway maps, GO cellular processes, disease biomarker networks, drug target networks, and toxicity networks

Network Analysis

10+ network generation algorithms with tissue, functional process, and species-specific filters. Direct interaction and shortest path algorithms, network scoring using G-scores and P-values, with 6 interactome tools

Key Pathway Advisor (KPA)

Drag-and-drop web application requiring no bioinformatics expertise. Predicts key protein activity changes (root cause analysis) using the SPIA algorithm, delivering results in 2 steps and under 1 minute

Multi-Omics Data Integration

Supports transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, genomics, epigenomics, and functional genomics. Universal parser supports Affymetrix, Agilent, Illumina, and SNP chip formats

Visualization & Custom Editing

Interactive canonical pathway maps with Pathway Map Creator for drawing/editing custom pathway maps. All features support custom network editing, with dynamic graphs for time-series data

100% Manual Curation

All interactions manually curated and validated by PhD and MD-level experts. No NLP or automated extraction, with industry-leading ontology ensuring annotation consistency

MetaCore Pathway Map Analysis

MetaCore Pathway Map Visualization — CD40 signaling pathway covering immune response, dendritic cell, and macrophage signaling networks

MetaDrug Companion Product

MetaDrug is Clarivate's systems pharmacology solution for predicting metabolism, toxicity, and biological effects of small molecule compounds. It won the Best New Product Award at the Molecular Medicine Conference in 2007.

Metabolite Prediction

10,000+ xenobiotic reactions, 80 key metabolic reaction rules

ADME/Tox Prediction

QSAR models for 40+ major drug-metabolizing enzymes

Activity Prediction

Predict activity of compounds and their metabolites

Off-Target Effects

System-level chemoinformatics tools combining compound-target interactions

Indication Prediction

Predict potential therapeutic indications for novel small molecules

Pathway Integration

Integrate prediction results with human cell signaling and metabolic pathways

Drug Development Lifecycle Coverage

Stage MetaCore Capabilities
Target Exploration Disease-gene association analysis (182K+), network-based target identification, interactome analysis
Target Validation Pathway enrichment to confirm biological relevance, causal reasoning analysis
Lead Identification Compound-target interaction mapping (750K+ compounds), off-target effect prediction via MetaDrug
Preclinical / Safety ADME/Tox prediction, toxicogenomics pathway analysis, hepatotoxicant assessment
Biomarker Development Diagnostic and prognostic biomarker identification throughout the development cycle
Drug Repositioning Network-based identification of new indications for existing drugs (e.g., COVID-19 research identified 15 drug targets and 46 existing drugs)

Therapeutic Expertise Areas

Oncology

Breast cancer GWAS, glioblastoma, ovarian cancer, liver cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Immunology

Immune response pathway enrichment, vaccine research

Infectious Diseases

COVID-19 drug repurposing research

Rare Diseases

MetaMiner Cystic Fibrosis — the first disease-specific software platform

Toxicology

Hepatotoxicant research, drug-induced toxicity assessment

CNS

Disease ontology and curated neurodegenerative disease networks

Core Competitive Advantages

The Only Database with All Three Interaction Attributes

Directionality, mechanism, effect — the only database on the market with all three attributes simultaneously

100% Manual Curation

No NLP or automated extraction; all interactions validated by PhD-level experts, ensuring the highest data quality

Deep ADME/Tox Integration

Metabolite prediction, safety assessment, and indication prediction via the MetaDrug companion product

Cortellis Ecosystem Integration

End-to-end drug discovery with seamless integration with CDDI, CCI, and other Cortellis modules, single sign-on access

Industries & Users

Industry Primary Use Cases
Pharmaceutical Companies Target screening/validation, biomarker identification, mechanism of action research, drug repositioning
Biotech Companies Drug discovery pathway analysis, lead optimization, translational research
Government / Regulatory U.S. FDA authorized to use MetaCore for reviewing genomics data in drug applications
Academic / Research Institutions Systems biology research, multi-omics analysis (NIH, MIT, Yale, Stanford, Harvard, etc.)
Contract Research Organizations Genomics services for biotech/pharma clients
Disease Foundations Disease-specific platform development (e.g., Cystic Fibrosis Foundation)

Supported Input Data Types

Data Type Specific Formats
Transcriptomics Affymetrix, Agilent, Illumina (microarray); RNA-seq / NGS, SAGE, MPSS (sequencing)
Proteomics Protein expression data, Co-IP pull-out
Metabolomics Metabolite lists, supporting enrichment and pathway analysis
Genomics SNPs, CGH chips, genetic variants
Epigenomics ChIP-seq data
Functional Genomics RNAi screens, siRNA, microRNA

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Learn About MetaCore / MetaDrug

Power your multi-omics research and drug discovery pathway analysis with a 100% manually curated knowledge base

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