[opensourcepharma] bbc on open source pharma

Sat Dec 23 07:50:22 UTC 2017

Well done! Thanks for sharing.

Bernard

On Fri, Dec 22, 2017 at 12:49 PM, Jaykumar Menon <jaykumar.menon at mcgill.ca>
wrote:

> Article mentions Els and OSPF, and most importantly, the efforts of women
> scientists, here working remotely.
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> http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42188808
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> 'We should own our own livelihood and our own dream'
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> By Tatum AndersonTechnology of Business reporter
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> ·         22 December 2017
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> [image: Tanusree Chaudhuri (centre) with two of her remote-working
> research colleagues]Image copyrightTANUSREE CHAUDHURIImage captionTanusree
> Chaudhuri (centre) with two of her remote-working research colleagues
>
> *Tanusree Chaudhuri, 34, was pregnant with her first child when her
> supervisor told her she would have to give up her dreams.*
>
> She was doing a doctorate in computational biology and aspired to improve
> people's health.
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> "He told me 'you are married now, why do you need a PhD? You should go
> take care of your family'," she says.
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> She'd hoped to work in drug discovery creating new medicines, after
> studying at a prestigious institute near Kolkata, India.
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> But when she married and moved to Hyderabad for her husband's job, she
> encountered cultural resistance.
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> "Married women are expected to take care of family because without family
> we are nothing," she says. "We're not expected to want the privilege of
> thinking and doing research."
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> So when she came across an online "virtual laboratory" enabling
> researchers to carry out important work from home, she jumped at the chance
> to get involved.
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> The Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) platform was run by the Indian
> government and enabled scientists to collaborate remotely, searching for
> molecules that could be turned into useful medicines.
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> Dr Chaudhuri found she could work from home at times that suited her and
> her baby.
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> "I met many different people [virtually]. I remember one girl was from
> somewhere very remote. But it was possible to work with her because I spoke
> to her through Skype. We never met or visited face-to-face," recalls Dr
> Chaudhuri.
>
> There are many other open source platforms in the scientific community,
> each with their own specialism, from genomic analysis to cancer research,
> and many women across India and other emerging economies are finding them
> very liberating.
>
> After the government-run platform closed in 2016, Dr Chaudhuri and her
> colleagues began working for another organisation, the Open Source Pharma
> Foundation (OSPF), a joint venture between pharmaceutical industry
> professionals and academics.
>
> It is dedicated to discovering affordable medicines by enabling remote
> collaboration around the world.
>
> [image: Ayisha Safeeda]Image copyrightAYISHA SAFEEDAImage captionAyisha
> Safeeda says she can read research papers while feeding her baby
>
> Ayisha Safeeda, from Kuttichira in the southern state of Kerala, is from a
> very traditional Muslim family and lives in a remote area. But she has been
> able to pursue her Masters degree through the open source platform.
>
> "Even if I feed my baby I can read research papers or I can do work on my
> laptop," she says. "So women who have high potential but are buried inside
> the family should come forward."
>
> The work these women do in the virtual lab involves whittling down the
> choice of potential molecules that could eventually be turned into drugs to
> fight diseases, such as tuberculosis.
>
> Dr Chaudhuri develops software for OSPF to help scientists from different
> disciplines, such as biology or physics, collaborate on the platform.
>
> Rakhila Pradeep, another virtual researcher from Tamil Nadu, says she has
> always loved research but has found it impossible to get to research
> centres.
>
> "The daily commute to far-flung universities from our rural village is a
> cumbersome journey and not practical for us," she says. "We were unable to
> get away from our children and aged family members for days on end."
>
> [image: Rakhila Pradeep]Image copyrightRAKHILA PRADEEPImage captionRakhila
> Pradeep says getting to "far-flung" universities was difficult
>
> Dr UC Jaleel, an expert in cheminformatics and computational biology, has
> supervised many of the projects carried out by these skilled home workers.
> He believes they are a massive untapped source of expertise.
>
> Recalling his college days, women students usually outnumbered - and
> outclassed - their male contemporaries, he says. But then they would
> disappear.
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> He analysed the statistics in a district of Kerala where he is based and
> the results were "astonishing", he says.
>
> "These women were all highly educated, but the majority of them ended up
> as housewives after marrying."
>
> Dr Jaleel is a firm believer in OSPF's crowd sourcing model, particularly
> if it leads to cheaper medicines for the world's poorer families.
>
> "The common goal is to reduce the time and cost of drug discovery, connect
> the disconnected and mobilise neglected human potential for humanitarian
> purposes," he says.
> More Technology of Business
>
> [image: Technology logo]Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
>
> Dr Chaudhuri agrees, saying: "Things will progress further. Rather than
> make everyone gather at one place like an office, let's give others
> opportunities.
>
> "You might think at night or you might think in the morning. You might
> think whenever you want. We can get the answer and we will go forward."
>
> Els Torreele, executive director of charity Medecins Sans Frontieres'
> access campaign, believes crowd sourcing could have an important role to
> play in affordable drug discovery.
>
> "Open source research collaborations are an important and timely strategy
> to advance and possibly accelerate medical innovation," she says,
> "including in the area of neglected diseases where knowledge sharing is
> even more critical than in other fields."
>
> OSPF is still in its early stages, however, and it's not without its
> challenges - poor internet connectivity in many rural areas being one of
> them.
>
> Funding is another concern, although it has received seed funding from
> Indian foundation Tata Trusts.
>
> Much of the work is now being done via several university servers and
> social media.
>
> But Dr Chaudhuri, who not only has a PhD but is now an assistant
> professor, says she and her students plan to work on OSPF to help it expand.
>
> "Dreaming for us Indian girls is prohibited unless we have this kind of
> opportunity," she says. "We should own our own livelihood and our own
> dream."
>
>
>
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Managing Revenue Growth (And Contraction) In Big Pharma: What Have We
Learned In The Last 10 Years?
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmunos/2017/08/29/managing-revenue-growth-and-contraction-in-big-pharma-what-have-we-learned-in-the-last-10-years/>
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