Reinventing the Pharmaceutical Industry, without the Industry

• Published in: The Futurist Vol. 44; no. 1; p. 19
• Main Author: Hessel, Andrew
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington World Future Society 01-01-2010
• Subjects: Biotechnology; Biotechnology industry; Breast cancer; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Cooperatives; Drugs; Engineering Technology; Genetics; Medical research; Narcotics; Nonprofit organizations; Open source software; Pharmaceutical industry; Precision medicine; Social networks; Startups; Synthetic biology; Therapy; United States > US
• ISSN: 0016-3317

The author founded the Pink Army Cooperative. It's an open source biotechnology venture that is member-owned and operated and not-for-profit. It's working to create individualized therapies for breast cancer. The mission is to build a new drug development pipeline able to produce effective therapies faster for less money, without compromising safety. It costs hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars to bring a drug to market, and the costs are still growing faster than inflation. Even the largest pharmaceutical companies are struggling. There is no public route for drug development; virtually all development is industry-backed. Overall, as biology becomes more digital, there is potential for massive change. Open access will make it easier to share ideas, publish protocols and tools, verify results, firewall bad designs, communicate best practices, and more. The idea of cures or therapies that are unique to the individual is a critical component of the Pink Army Cooperative vision.