Is Open Source Drug Discovery Practical?
– Event
Thursday 19 September, 09:00 – 12:00 @ World Health Organization (WHO) – UNAIDS HQ, room D46031
Moderator: Matthew Todd, University of Sidney
We urgently need new medicines for diseases of both the developed and the developing world. We also need to ensure those medicines are affordable. Solutions based on an open source approach to drug discovery hold much promise, but can they ultimately deliver drugs to the public? This session will present details of several current approaches to opening up drug discovery from academia, industry and NGOs, and will identify what yet needs to be done. Most importantly we will examine whether a public domain compound, free from patent protection, can become a viable treatment.
This session will examine a range of open approaches, and will include several key players from various sectors, such as Medicines for Malaria Venture, World Health Organization, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, many already based in Geneva. Short talks from each core member of a panel will be followed by a roundtable discussion of several pre-circulated questions, allowing audience participation in the discussion. 2-3 hours would be needed, but since this is not so much a practical workshop I have asked for a satellite event. While the focus is on drug discovery, several issues relevant to open science, public health and economics will be covered.
Read more about it in Matthew’s guest post on our blog and sign-up here.
