[opensourcepharma] a open source cure for Ebola?

Thu Aug 7 00:28:30 UTC 2014

Hi Bernard,

This is the concept, indeed. A crowd - sourced, well defined plan.
Financing the execution, and study conduct itself would be subject of
consultation with the players you mention and probably some others
interested in paying for it.

regards,
Tomasz

On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 6:44 PM, Bernard Munos <bhmunos at gmail.com> wrote:

> My advice would be to position it as a crowdsourcing initiative to find
> badly needed treatments quickly, among the store of already-approved drugs.
> Once such potential treatments have been identified, I would consult with
> MSF, DNDi, and other NGOs to identify the next steps.
>
> b
>
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 6:19 PM, Tomasz Sablinski <
> tomasz at transparencyls.com> wrote:
>
>> 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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>>>
>>
>
>
> --
> 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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