Recent news
February 2012
Open innovation spurs global health R&D
February 16, 2012 -- As pharmaceutical companies increase their engagement in global health research in various ways, there is more and more talk of “open innovation.” For research and development (R&D) purposes, open innovation involves pharmaceutical companies sharing data, sometimes entire libraries of information, with the public so researchers can use this information to create candidates for drugs and other products. This type of data sharing can help spur R&D for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) primarily found in the developing world, which have not traditionally garnered large investments from pharmaceutical companies. As Nature reports, most recently the World Health Organization (WHO) included open innovation in its road map to control NTDs, with 11 companies offering to share their intellectual property.
In the past, pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Novartis, and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, have released detailed information on molecular structures that could contribute to drug development. According the Nature, two years ago, GSK “released details about 13,500 molecules that had already been shown to inhibit the malaria-causing Plasmodium falciparum parasite to some degree.”
Nonprofit organizations are contributing to the data sharing effort as well. GHTC member Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)—a product development partnership whose mission is to develop and facilitate the delivery of new, effective, and affordable anti-malarial drugs—created its Malaria Box late last year in an effort to increase the exchange of vital R&D information. Available free of charge, the Malaria Box consists of 400 diverse compounds with anti-malarial activity, all of which MMV hopes will be used to publish data that can help “continue the virtuous cycle of research.”
