[opensourcepharma] OSP @ RHH 2015 will happen Sep 1-3

Bernard Munos bhmunos at gmail.com
Tue Jun 9 16:56:35 UTC 2015


Thanks Graham. I know Bruce Bloom. He is very good, and we should
definitely reach out to him. The financial model hinges on the duration of
the period of exclusivity, which has been a contentious topic in the US
Congress. Another key factor is the emergence of biosensing technologies
that allow rich data capture and remote patient-monitoring (i.e., outside
hospital settings) at very low cost. This is changing the economics of
clinical research, and will likely boost the attractiveness of drug
repurposing.

b


On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 11:43 AM, Graham Dover <graham at mindsetfoundation.com>
wrote:

> Hi
>
> We’ve been exploring this issue for the last year - inspired by the NCATS
> model and others - and approaching it from two different angles.
>
> First, we’ve spent time with Cures Within Reach
> <http://www.cureswithinreach.org/> (nonprofit) to see if we could help
> scale their successful repurposing model - they have recently had support
> from RWJF to build a knowledge sharing platform
> <http://cureaccelerator.org> (officially launched last week). Bruce
> Bloom, the CEO of Cures Within Reach, would be excellent person to invite
> to your September meeting as he has been working in this space for the last
> 10 years.
>
> Second, a significant challenge to drug repurposing is developing a
> sustainable financial model and so we commissioned MaRS Centre for
> Impacting Investing <http://impactinvesting.marsdd.com/> to explore how
> social finance tools (such as Social Impact Bonds) might be used to engage
> governments, impact investors etc. They will produce a summary report for
> us by mid-July. Anyone that is interested is more than welcome to have
> access to this material or even sit in on the call when they make their
> next presentation.
>
> We are also in discussions with the Canadian government over a drug
> repurposing initiative focused on rare diseases to be launched in early
> 2016 and I know that Bruce is in discussions with a number of governments
> including the UK, Belgium, Israel. It could be that there is a growing
> momentum for a global initiative.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Graham
>
> *Graham Dover*
>
> Executive Director | *Mindset* *Foundation*
> p: 604.601.2162 ext 3 | e: graham at mindsetfoundation.com
> w: *www.mindsetfoundation.com <http://www.mindsetfoundation.com/>*
>
> On Jun 9, 2015, at 8:27 AM, Bernard Munos <bhmunos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> There is also an active repurposing program at UC-Davis
> <http://ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/20090520_web_portal/index.html>.
> The scientist behind the Johns Hopkins effort moved to Harvard, and I lost
> track of him.
>
> b
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 11:17 AM, Jaykumar Menon, Prof. <
> jaykumar.menon at mcgill.ca> wrote:
>
>>  A tremendous paper Dimitrios, thanks for it.   And great  comments Mat
>> and Bernard and Samir.
>>
>>
>>
>> To continue the thought experiment, I wonder if there is a gaping need
>> for more effort on what is perhaps the lowest of the low hanging fruit:
>>
>> a)      Focused on approved drugs only
>>
>> b)      With no IP hurdle  (generic, or otherwise no hurdle)
>>
>> c)       Comprehensive or at least somewhat broad.
>>
>> (I see a few narrower efforts- Univ of British Columbia, and
>> Chicago-based Cures within Reach).  The Johns Hopkins Clinical Compound
>> Screening Initiative (JHCCSI) looks promising, though their web site seems
>> defunct.
>>
>> d)      Open source and crowd powered
>>
>>
>>
>> j
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Dimitrios Tzalis [mailto:dtzalis at taros.de]
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 09, 2015 5:50 AM
>> *To:* Jaykumar Menon, Prof.
>> *Cc:* opensourcepharma at lists.okfn.org; Peter Kolb
>> *Subject:* Re: [opensourcepharma] OSP @ RHH 2015 will happen Sep 1-3
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear Jay,
>>
>>
>>
>> this indeed is a very interesting approach and has gotten quite some
>> attention for quite some time for obvious reasons.  There are ongoing
>> activites in this area in the US as well as in Europe. There are quite a
>> few initiatives where ADMET data is being made available on potential drug
>> candidates in an Open Source approach. There was last year good review in
>> 2013 on this topic by Minna Allarakhia
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.academia.edu/4964147/Open-source_approaches_for_the_repurposing_of_existing_or_failed_candidate_drugs
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* SKB IGIB EMAIL [mailto:skb at igib.res.in]
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 09, 2015 3:32 AM
>> *To:* Bernard Munos; Jaykumar Menon, Prof.
>>
>> *Cc:* opensourcepharma at lists.okfn.org
>> *Subject:* Re: [opensourcepharma] OSP @ RHH 2015 will happen Sep 1-3
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear Bernard, I completely agree with you. We have taken this up as a low
>> hanging fruits. I am in Weizmann Institute attending an International
>> Conference Deep Sequencing Meets Structural biolology. Ada Yonath. Gave
>> some new idea on combination drugs to combat drug resistance. regards. Samir
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
>>
>> *From: *Bernard Munos
>>
>> *Sent: *Tuesday, June 9, 2015 09:53
>>
>> *To: *Jaykumar Menon, Prof.
>>
>> *Cc: *opensourcepharma at lists.okfn.org
>>
>> *Subject: *Re: [opensourcepharma] OSP @ RHH 2015 will happen Sep 1-3
>>
>>
>>
>> Jay,
>>
>>
>>
>> Drug repurposing is a powerful innovation model that should definitely be
>> part of our remit. It is championed by NIH because for many diseases --
>> especially rare ones -- it is the most economical way to speed new
>> therapies to market.
>>
>>
>>
>> For the record, folks who are steeped in this thing distinguish between
>> drug repurposing (the use of an *approved* drug for an entirely new
>> indication) from drug rescue (the resurrection of a drug candidate that was
>> abandoned *before it was approved*, but has been subsequently found to
>> have activity against an entirely different disease).
>>
>>
>>
>> The scientific rationale for drug repurposing is compelling. I keep a
>> database of all the drugs approved that have been found to work on
>> something else, and their number is in the hundreds. This is often the
>> result of drugs modulating multiple targets that impact various diseases.
>>
>>
>>
>> IP is not an issue with drug repurposing (at least not in the US) because
>> many molecules are generic, and for those that are not, a decades-old
>> Supreme Court case allows scientists to perform research on patented
>> compounds. It also allows them to make and trade such compounds for
>> research purposes -- something known as the Bolar exemption, after the
>> now-defunct generic company that fought this case in court.
>>
>>
>>
>> Drug rescue is more complicated because much of what is known about these
>> candidates has not been published. (Sometimes, even the structure has not
>> been disclosed.) Yet, that knowledge is key to figuring out what the drug
>> might be good for. So, whoever wants to rescue a drug has to seek the
>> collaboration of the patent owner. Pharma companies have recently become
>> more open to this. I recently asked 5 big pharma companies whether they
>> would entertain letting scientists from academia and other companies rescue
>> some of their abandoned drug candidates, if the deal were structured to
>> allow them to reacquire the candidate down the road for a "fair value" --
>> i.e., right of first refusal. They all said yes, although some stipulated
>> that they wanted no liability and no obligation to supply trial material.
>>
>>
>>
>> A big challenge in drug repurposing is building a library of approved
>> compounds. When NCATS started its efforts some years back, it could not
>> even get a list of approved drugs from FDA. (No kidding: it did not exist!)
>> It took a couple of years to get that data. When it set out to buy the
>> compounds, it found out that many were not available. They had been
>> discontinued, or superseded by newer drugs. In quite a few cases, the
>> recipe had been lost, and had to be recreated. If the compounds were
>> available, the purity was not always acceptable; or the minimum order
>> quantity was way too high; or re-supply was haphazard.
>>
>>
>>
>> The drug repurposing industry has made big strides in the last couple of
>> years. There are now specialized search engines to facilitate the discovery
>> of new indications, and companies have been created to supply approved
>> drugs "to anyone with an assay". So this is definitely something worth
>> considering. If we go that route, we should leverage the experience of the
>> pioneers who have been doing it -- e,g., NCATS or scientists such as Atul
>> Butte at UCSF.
>>
>>
>>
>> Hope this helps.
>>
>>
>>
>> b
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 8, 2015 at 8:02 PM, Jaykumar Menon, Prof. <
>> jaykumar.menon at mcgill.ca> wrote:
>>
>>  Dear Peter,
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks for the note and all the superb effort!
>>
>>
>>
>> And dear all,
>>
>>
>>
>> There is so much to discuss and plan and make sense of, as the open
>> source meme seems to be catching on.  (And a quick personal apologia - I’ve
>> been buried in things operational – trying to add some heft and muscle to
>> this discussion and movement, so sorry for my relative silence of late on
>> the email list-serv.)  For the meeting at the Castle, as you can see from
>> the spreadsheet, we are already at 14 attendees, a mix of  “new” and “old”
>> blood (i.e. those who attended Bellagio and those who did not), hailing
>> from San Francisco (Linux Foundation) to Seattle (a special person from
>> Gates) to Oxford (Structural Genomics), with some heavy hitters, so let us
>> know if you are interested soon, as this is again a small venue, and we are
>> trying to get the optimal mix.  Suggestions of people are also welcome.
>>
>>
>>
>> As those of you who were at Bellagio remember, this is a special group,
>> and a special colloquy and movement, operating in a realm that is at the
>> cutting edge of the cutting edge, yet animated by human need.  It is a
>> union of those adept at concretizing dreams.  And it is superfun, a bonding
>> experience.  Thanks again to Peter for securing such an unbelievable spot.
>>
>>
>>
>> And as a precis and discussion starter, a question, perhaps foolish and
>> ill-informed, considering the vast expertise in this group, but posed in
>> the spirit of risk-taking and thinking big, is appended below.
>>
>>
>>
>> With warm regards,
>>
>> Jaykumar
>>
>>
>>
>> *Repurposing (admittedly imprecise and perhaps inaccurate description):*
>>   Repurposed drugs offer the prospect of huge cost savings.  The goal of
>> repurposing is to deploy approved drugs or abandoned clinical candidates in
>> new disease areas.  Directing such drugs – particularly those that are
>> fully approved and off patent - towards new diseases can deliver cures at a
>> fraction of the cost of developing a new drug.  This is due to savings in
>> R&D expense and reduced clinical trial requirements.
>>
>>
>>
>> A question came up recently in a discussion with a funder, and we novices
>> didn’t know the answer, and I thought I’d take it to the group mind.
>>
>>
>>
>> Would it make any sense to have a grand and almost comprehensive
>> repurposing project, an Apollo project of sorts, where we look at
>> essentially all/large numbers of generic drugs, to see their applicability
>> against a particular condition (or many) of (public) health need?  Has it
>> already been adequately done?  (There have been  efforts from NIH NCATS,
>> working with under-patent drug candidates from pharma companies, but
>> evidently not with generics and approved drugs, and other efforts too).
>> Would it be at all needed, feasible and fruitful?  If so, crowdsourcing and
>> openness would seem to be essential.  It is thus a natural fit for those
>> intrigued by open source pharma.
>>
>>
>>
>> j
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Peter Kolb [mailto:peter.kolb at uni-marburg.de]
>> *Sent:* Monday, June 08, 2015 1:50 PM
>> *To:* opensourcepharma at lists.okfn.org
>> *Cc:* Jaykumar Menon, Prof.; Matthew Todd
>> *Subject:* OSP @ RHH 2015 will happen Sep 1-3
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear past and future OSP participants,
>>
>> The 2015 meeting will take place on September 1-3, 2015, in castle
>> Rauischholzhausen <https://goo.gl/maps/TmERX>, near Marburg (greater
>> Frankfurt area), Germany.  Here are some key facts to assist in your
>> planning:
>>
>>    - Arrival is possible from Aug 31, 10am. Departure is on Sep 3 after
>>    lunch. The conference program will run from Sep 1 morning until Sep 3 noon.
>>    - Please sign up at http://tinyurl.com/osprhh by June 30 in order to
>>    participate. This spreadsheet also allows you to record dietary preferences
>>    as well as arrival and departure times.
>>    - The easiest travel option is to fly into Frankfurt airport (FRA),
>>    then take a train <http://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/index.shtml> to
>>    Marburg (approx. 90 mins), followed by a short cab ride to the castle. More
>>    detailed instructions will follow to participants at a later time.
>>    - Accommodation as well as meals and coffee breaks will be provided
>>    at the castle.
>>    - We have secured some sponsorship and are trying to secure more.
>>    The worst-case scenario, in case we completely fail to do so, will be a
>>    lodging fee of EUR 250 per person (covering all accommodation and meals for
>>    the 3-4 days, which is quite reasonable). Please do not let it be an
>>    impediment to registering initially; if you need to drop out later, that
>>    will be all right.
>>
>> If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write!
>>
>> Looking forward to a fruitful meeting in September,
>> Jay, Mat & Peter
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> P e t e r   K o l b
>>
>> Emmy Noether Group Leader
>>
>> Pharmaceutical Chemistry @ Philipps-University Marburg
>>
>> Tel +49 6421 28 25908 | Fax +49 6421 28 28994
>>
>> http://www.kolblab.org
>>
>>
>>
>> Chair | GLISTEN: COST Action CM1207
>>
>> http://www.glisten-gpcr.eu/
>>
>>
>>
>> Editor | Journal of Postdoctoral Affairs
>>
>> http://www.postdocjournal.com
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
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>> *Fastercures*
>> <http://fastercures.tumblr.com/post/62722481036/give-me-your-innovators-yearning-to-breathe-free#!>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
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