Big Pharma Opens New Chapter On Big Data Collaboration

In the course of one short week, no less than 3 different models have emerged for sharing big data in the pharmaceutical industry. The highest profile of these ‒ called Project Data Sphere (PDS here) ‒ was announced earlier today with the official opening of an online resource to share clinical trial data for use in cancer research.

The number of available data sets available today is fairly small (9), but the list of companies committed to providing data is impressive and includes AstraZeneca AZN -Bayer, Celgene CELG , Janssen Research and Development (an affiliate of Johnson & Johnson JNJ , Pfizer PFE , Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Sanofi SNY U.S.

The primary objective, of course, is to accelerate drug discovery and development. From the website, the underlying objective is posed as a question this way:  “What if we could share, integrate and analyze our collective historical cancer research data in a single location?”...