Learning to Share

By opening up its database of potential malaria drugs, GlaxoSmithKline has blazed a path that other pharmaceutical companies should follow. It was heartening to learn last week that British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to make publicly available a database containing the structures and pharmacological data for 13,500 possible drugs against malaria. The database, obtained by screening two million compounds in GSK's library, promises to be a windfall for malaria drug development.

More broadly, the move highlights ongoing efforts by GSK and many other drug companies to re-engage with the 'neglected' diseases that predominantly affect poor countries, reversing decades of indifference. Some firms are already making their libraries available to public–private partnerships such as the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. This month's announcement, however, marks the first time that any drug-maker has made public domain a substantial database of possible drug leads.

The move advances the pharmaceutical industry's slow but steady shift towards more open sharing of data. At least for early-stage, precompetitive research, drug companies are finding it useful to lower the firewalls around their intellectual property and pool their resources. Making data public brings fresh eyes and minds to the problem, and has the potential to accelerate the discovery process.

GSK is emerging as a leader in such open-source approaches....