[opensourcepharma] a open source cure for Ebola?

Wed Aug 6 22:19:47 UTC 2014

Dear All,

I am making this suggestion with a bit of trepidation, because it is such
enormous task, and politically charged topic.

What if we used Transparency Life Sciences platform to engage the crowd to:
1/ identify the most suitable candidate(s) for clinical testing, along the
lines suggested by Bernard via a "reversed" TLS Indication Finder
2/ design the simplest and most feasible clinical research protocol using
TLS Protocol Builder

We know how to curate and make sense of crowd contributions counting
hundreds. I imagine that the name Ebola would attract thousands. Our survey
technology can handle such numbers, we just haven't done it yet. This
effort would require some $$ for IT, etc, and expert(s) from CDC (?), WHO
(?), etc to "curate" the crowd.

I would see this as joint Open Source Pharma and TLS project. I think it
fits both organization visions nicely, and the social impact and example to
th world could be tremendous.

Please let me know what you think, and also understand that I am throwing
this idea ad hoc, and can not make a firm commitment before we figure out
details.

Regards,

Tomasz

On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 5:58 PM, Bernard Munos <bhmunos at gmail.com> wrote:

> There are several publications in PLoS and Science TM suggesting that at
> least half a dozen approved drugs have some degree of efficacy against
> Ebola (here
> <http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0060579&representation=PDF>
> and here
> <http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/190/190ra79.abstract?sid=ecf907f6-a4ae-4b37-a29d-474963a53068>
> and here
> <http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0060579>).
> However, they have never been tested in humans (hard to find patients
> outside epidemics). By law, FDA may not disclose which drugs have been
> submitted for approval. However, this is not a problem because any
> application has to rely on human trials that must be registered on
> clinicaltrials.gov. In this case, a quick search
> <http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results/displayOpt?flds=a&flds=b&flds=f&flds=c&submit_fld_opt=on&cond=Ebola&show_flds=Y>
> shows 9 trials -- 5 phase 1 vaccine trials sponsored by NIH; 4 phase 1 drug
> trials sponsored by Sarepta, Tekmira, and NIH. No human trials on
> repurposed dugs yet, although that could change, with the situation. Since
> no phase 2 and 3 trials have been registered, no Ebola drug could have been
> submitted for approval in the US.
>
> Sending unapproved drugs to Africa is fraught with ethical concerns about
> using Africans as guinea pigs. US was correct to treat its own citizens
> first to avoid that charge. My guess, however, is that it might respond
> favorably if it were to receive a request from African government(s) for
> experimental treatments. These governments can also offer repurposed drugs
> to their patients, if they wish, since they are generic, inexpensive and
> widely available.
>
> The positive development in all that is that the drug developed by Mapp
> Biopharmaceutical is a monoclonal antibody produced in genetically-modified
> tobacco plants. This is a new technique that can produce kilo quantities
> rather cheaply, as opposed to the very expensive gram quantities produced
> by traditional cell culture. So this Ebola disaster might end up validating
> a new technique that will upend the economics of monoclonals, by far the
> most expensive drugs today. The impact on biosimilars, oncology,
> inflammation, etc, could be huge.
>
> b
>
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 4:33 PM, Els Torreele <
> els.torreele at opensocietyfoundations.org> wrote:
>
>>  It’s been fascinating to read some of the commentaries on the fact that
>> we don’t have a treatment against Ebola virus, eg:
>>
>>
>> http://www.vox.com/2014/8/4/5963751/the-real-cause-of-the-ebola-outbreak-its-not-what-you-think
>>
>>
>>
>> As well as that there seem to be a few experimental treatments around,
>> but all is shrouded in secrecy
>>
>>
>> http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/08/experts-give-new-us-ebola-drug-africans-201485233636516828.html
>>
>>
>> http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/guinea/qa-experimental-treatments.html
>>
>> “ The FDA cannot comment on the specifics of ongoing drug development
>> programs and cannot reveal information that is not otherwise public
>> concerning submissions covering such programs such as IND applications
>> submissions.”
>>
>>
>>
>> *Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity **for open source drug R&D,
>> including crowdsourcing ideas, to speed up the discovery of a desperately
>> needed new drug. Instead of having a few companies working privately on
>> their own (with US gov support often), we could imagine opening it all up,
>> share what we know about the virus, about the potential drug candidates out
>> there, and then together build upon shared knowledge and progress?*
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Els Torreele, PhD
>> Director, Access to Essential Medicines Initiative
>> Public Health Program
>> Open Society Foundations
>> 224 West 57th Street I New York, New York 10019
>> Tel: (+1)-212-548-0351 I M: (+1)-646-262-2053
>>
>> els.torreele at opensocietyfoundations.org
>>
>> http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/topics/access-medicines
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Follow me on Forbes <http://blogs.forbes.com/bernardmunos/> and
> Fastercures
> <http://fastercures.tumblr.com/post/62722481036/give-me-your-innovators-yearning-to-breathe-free#!>
>
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