GSK: Open Source from Software to Pharmaceuticals

UK giant pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced it will rely on Open Source strategies to improve drug research and to help the development of vaccines for Malaria and other diseases in the third world countries.

GSK revealed details of 13500 chemical compounds from its scientific database and will establish a research 'open lab'.

(CC-BY Ian Wilson)

In its innovative 'Open Access' strategy, GSK has screened its pharmaceutical compound library of more than 2 million molecules for any that may inhibit the malaria parasite P.falciparum, the deadliest form of malaria. This exercise took five scientists a year to complete, and has yielded more than 13,500 compounds that could lead to the development of new and innovative treatments for malaria, which kills at least one million children every year in Africa.

These findings, including the chemical structures and associated assay data, will be made freely available to the public via leading scientific websites.

The release of these data will mark the first time that a pharmaceutical company has made public the structures of so many of its compounds in the hope that they could lead to new medicines for malaria.

The company will share intellectual property for neglected tropical diseases with third parties in order to create a vaste 'knowledge pool'.

GSK will also establish the first ever 'Open Lab' to act as an engine room of scientific innovation for neglected tropical diseases. In the 'Open Lab', scientists will be encouraged to tap into the expertise, knowledge and infrastructure of the company, while pursuing their own projects as part of an integrated drug discovery team.

GSK, which is considered the world's second biggest pharmaceutical company, will establish a not-for-profit foundation with an initial seed investment of $8m to help fund the research and facilitate better sharing of knowledge and ideas.

This is one of the first cases when a huge pharmaceutical company offers open access to thousands of potential drugs by putting them into the public domain, most done -in smaller scale- by universities and other research centers.