ABOUT
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The Open Source Pharma Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Bangalore, India that seeks to develop a new paradigm for drug discovery. We leverage exponential advances in computing power and collaborative technologies; alternative approaches to intellectual property; and the vast reach of the generics industry.
Open source software such as Linux and Android are crowdsourced, patent-free, affordable, and market-dominant. In brief, open source pharma is: 1) crowdsourced and computer-driven drug discovery; 2) IT-enabled clinical trials with open data and crowdsourcing; and 3) generics manufacture Through nurturing the open source pharma global community; building platforms for international scientific collaboration; conducting open source-style clinical trials and early stage drug discovery research, with a focus on areas of great health need, particularly on infectious diseases afflicting the global poor, we aim to work towards an alternative, end-to-end pharmaceutical system. In short, we seek to discover new drugs, and a new way to discover drugs. |
For more information, download our one-pager and overview of the Open Source Pharma Foundation
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VisionMedicines for all
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MissionUsing open source principles, and by nurturing a movement, we seek to create affordable new medicines in areas of great health need
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History of OSPF
The idea of applying open source principles derived from the software industry to the pharmaceutical industry, and to the process of drug discovery, has a long history. The pioneers must be acknowledged. Early papers include Can Open-Source R&D Reinvigorate Drug Research? (2006) in Nature by OSPF-co founder Bernard Munos. Pioneering institutionalizations include the government of India’s Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD), which has assembled over 50 Indian universities, carried out over 100 research projects, and identified more than 60 potential drug targets of tuberculosis. They also include Open Source Malaria (OSM), founded by OSPF co-founder Matthew Todd. In 2013, the Tata Trusts funded the TATA CSIR-OSDD Fellowship (TCOF), providing open source drug discovery fellowships to students and young researchers conducting research for neglected diseases through methods of crowdsourcing.
Early meetings and conferences include a WHO meeting in London. At conferences in 2014 in Bellagio, Italy and in 2015 in Rauischholzhausen, Germany, the concept was further vetted. In 2015, the Tata Trusts decided to expand its activities in the area. In 2018, with funds received from the Tata Trusts, which support philanthropic work in India, the OSPF, based in India but a global group, commenced operations. OSPF seeks to expand and nurture the global open source pharma community, to build an open source innovation model for the pharma sector, and to actually try to deliver affordable new therapies in areas of great health need, particularly for infectious diseases affecting the global poor.
Early meetings and conferences include a WHO meeting in London. At conferences in 2014 in Bellagio, Italy and in 2015 in Rauischholzhausen, Germany, the concept was further vetted. In 2015, the Tata Trusts decided to expand its activities in the area. In 2018, with funds received from the Tata Trusts, which support philanthropic work in India, the OSPF, based in India but a global group, commenced operations. OSPF seeks to expand and nurture the global open source pharma community, to build an open source innovation model for the pharma sector, and to actually try to deliver affordable new therapies in areas of great health need, particularly for infectious diseases affecting the global poor.
