In brief, grouping allows the DGIdb to relate disparate representations of a gene or drug concept through a core entity, or group. As the database grew, the grouping success rates dropped and new classes of drugs were not fully represented in the search results. Additionally, while the DGIdb grouped drug and gene claims, interactions were still reported at the claim level, with no concept of interaction groups. Furthermore, the initial API that was released alongside 2.0 had limited endpoints that prevented users from extracting additional information about their queried drug–gene interactions, such as PubMed IDs (PMIDs) supporting the interactions and other interaction metadata. Finally, the DGIdb has grown enormously since its initial publication in 2013, and as a result, interaction searches had become significantly slower. This new release addresses these limitations, providing an improved user interface, quicker response times for searches and new methods for accessing and incorporating the DGIdb into bioinformatics workflows.
