SCIENTIFIC NETWORKING AND COLLABORATIONS - Collaborative Computational Technologies for Biomedical Research - page 159

sion of free open-source data to the research community while at the same
time maintaining commercial viability through proprietary database services.
All of the organizations comprising the GSK initiative are offering valuable
information to academic and other groups that simply cannot afford to estab-
lish their own chemoinformatics and related infrastructures. Of course, while
the GSK example represents a signifi cant milestone in sharing preclinical data,
it is clear that malaria is not high on the list of priorities for large pharmaceuti-
cal companies. It is really too early to say how (or if) the above model can be
applied to major competitive programs like neurodegeneration or oncology,
so it will be a matter of “wait and see.” In the meantime, there is an interesting
trend toward open-source software for pharmaceutical development that will
go some way toward leveling the playing fi eld between large pharma, small
biotechs, and academia. Drug discovery is a highly complex business and
requires many different software tools to manage biological, chemical, and
clinical data. As many of these tools are proprietary, there is a call for greater
uptake of open-source systems to allow all parties access to the same software.
This will have the obvious effect of facilitating networking between different
organizations since they can then use common software to seamlessly transfer
and analyze multiple data types. An example of open-source software for drug
development is the OpenClinica

® system developed by Akaza Research in the
United States [27]. As with CDD, the business model involves free access to
data and software while providing enhancements paid for by subscription.

10.6 CONCLUSION

It is clear that electronic networking is evolving rapidly, not just in terms of
the actual hardware and software, but also in terms of how barriers to access
are being torn down. The free spirit of open-source software, fi le downloading,
and free access that has characterized telecommunications, entertainment, and
social networking is now clearly being applied to pharmaceutical and other
biomedical research. This will be important for anyone working inside a large
pharmaceutical company on IT and related systems as they will fi nd that
the choice of resources is widening far beyond the traditional “ off - the - shelf ”
commercial products. Despite the many unanswered questions about how
networking will impact upon mainstream pharmaceutical research in the near
future, one thing is certain—there is plenty of excitement to come.

REFERENCES

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tifi c networking. Drug Discov Today 2008 ; 13 : 863 - 868 .
2. Hannay T . From Web 2.0 to the global database . In Hey T , Tansley S , Tolle K , Eds.
The Fourth Paradigm . Redmond, WA : Microsoft Research , 2009 , pp. 215 - 219 .