Report: Drug discovery industry must embrace open source innovation to speed process, boost bottom lines

Ronald Rosenberg | CenterWatch | January 3, 2011

To meet the challenges of research and development, the pharmaceutical industry must adopt more open source innovation—a concept that has been used for nearly three decades by the information technology sector—to promote innovation in the drug discovery process and boost bottom lines, according to a new report by Frost & Sullivan.

Open source innovation is a way to collaborate during a product’s research and development by enabling information sharing across companies, institutions, areas of expertise and research platforms. By contrast, the closed innovation model has a single company discover, develop, gain regulatory approval for and launch a new drug on its own—a difficult business model, the report said.