GlaxoSmithKline Using Open Source Principles To Further Drug Research

Pharmaceutical companies get knocked for lots of things in the media so when they do something right, it's important to acknowledge it. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced this week that it plans to rely on open source strategies to further drug research and to aid in the development of malaria drugs in an effort to help prevent disease-related death in third-world countries. During a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, company CEO Andrew Witty told attendees GSK is looking for ways to "do more" and an open source approach to drug development is one way to achieve that.

The first way GSK plans to encourage drug research is by setting up an "Open Lab" in Tres Cantos, Spain, where as many as 60 independent researchers will be able to access the the lab's data and scientific equipment. GSK is also seeding the lab with $8 million to help fund research projects.

"The important thing here is that we are not generating the ideas or the projects to work on, rather we are letting universities, not-for-profit partnerships, research institutes, come to us with their projects, and getting them to set out what they think we can do to help them. We will soon announce the first two organisations that will come to the 'Open Lab'," said Witty.