Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD): A Paradigm Shift

...Although OSS has been around for more than two decades the model has only recently spread to other sectors such as computer hardware, electronics and digital arts. The model has been tried with great success by CSIR and forced critics to take notice of its spectacular success. Samir Brahmachari, Director General of India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), had announced the launch of an open source drug discovery (OSDD) initiative to accelerate development of new drugs to treat infectious diseases that plague the developing world in April 2008.

“When it comes to health, India is in a state of war. There’s a war between health as a right and health as business,” he said. Like the original open source software that was propelled by software developers motivated to contribute to large collaborative projects, proponents of OSDD believe that the global need for new low-cost drugs, particularly for treating neglected tropical diseases, will make this model effective.[4] The open source software technologies played the role of enabling this huge and complex collaboration. The success achieved has been remarkable because it has been achieved in little over 2 years...