Biology Goes Open Source

Biology Goes Open Source
Matthew Herper and Robert Langreth
Forbes February 12, 2007

Excerpt:
Some of the world’s biggest drug companies are finding that their genetic research is worth more to them if they give it away.

Novartis (nyse: NVS news people ), the Basel, Switzerland, drug giant, has helped uncover which of the 20,000 genes identified by the Human Genome Project are likely to be associated with diabetes. But rather than hoard this information, as drug firms have traditionally done, it is making it available for free on the World Wide Web.

“It will take the entire world to interpret these data,” says Novartis research head Mark Fishman. “We figure we will benefit more by having a lot of companies look at these data than by holding it secret.”

hmmm….if it’ll take the entire world to interpret the data, does this sound like there could be a role here for Chemists Without Borders?

Thanks to Peter Suber of Open Access News.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

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