In 2018 Jeff Janes and his team constructed and published the ReFRAME library through data mining and literature research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The team explained the application and utility of the ReFRAME library, where most of the compounds in the library have passed clinical trials Phase I with demonstrated safety profiles, which will significantly shorten the time to of drug candidates to enter clinical trials, reduce the risk of failure, and can be efficiently applied to early-stage drug development screening and discovery of lead compounds. The authors share the ReFRAME library on the Open Data Portal (https://reframedb.org ) with the aim of facilitating data sharing and drug discovery opportunities. The Global Center for Health Drug Development (GHDDI), founded by the Gates Foundation and Tsinghua University, has also applied the ReFRAME library to anti-COVID-19 drug discovery.

TargetMol has compiled a library of 3210 ReFRAME compounds, which is a useful tool for drug repurposing and anti-COVID-19 drug development.