[open-science] Outlining the argument for open commercialization

Wed Jun 19 12:11:14 UTC 2013

Greg,

I like what you're trying to do, and I'm trying to find similar examples to
counter the prevailing wisdom re drug discovery. I think you'll have a hard
time convincing anyone in a Uni environment of anything without not just
examples but peer-reviewed examples. I speak often about the power of first
mover advantage, but to take that to a formal audience I'd need a proper
source. However, you could start with these:

1) Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation: Evidence from the Human
Genome, H. L. Williams, Journal of Political Economy 2013, 121, 1-27
(10.1086/669706)

2) The Case Against Patents, M. Boldrin and D. K. Levine, Journal of
Economic Perspectives 2013, 27, 3-22 (10.1257/jep.27.1.3)

Boldrin and Levine also have a book on the same subject with an interesting
chapter on drug discovery, reminding us that penicillin and the polio
vaccine were products of great value to public health brought to the market
with no IP protection.

You might also like the anecdote I mention about prizes in the blog post I
just wrote:

http://intermolecular.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/open-source-competitions-and-prizes-1/

Your question is very significant. It's to my mind the heart of whether
open science can become more widespread. A referee comment on a grant
proposal I have under review right now expressed the worry that openness
would "prevent commercialization" and of course I argued that the opposite
is the case, but had nothing I could reference cleanly. Assembling a list
of examples (with sources) is a great idea, and would make a neat article.

Cheers,

Mat

-- 
MATTHEW TODD | Senior Lecturer and Honours Coordinator
School of Chemistry | Faculty of Science

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