My friend Zakir Thomas is a revenue service officer; but he is more comfortable in developmental work than being an enforcement officer. At present he is the project director for Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) a unique initiative by Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and is personally mentored by its DG, Dr. Samir Brahmachari.
Though concept of Opens Source development has been in practice for a long time (though not in this name), it has become quite popular with the advent of internet, more so with the availability of collaboration tools (now referred to as web 2.0) which has enabled communities across the globe to work on solutions to complex problems.
Internet itself is product of such collaboration and Linux, the Operating System, is one of the most known open sources software. There are hundreds and thousands of such initiatives out there today in a variety of fields. Sequencing of human genome can be seen outcome of such a participative effort. However, in fields like Pharma where the cost of research, testing and regulatory approval can be phenomenal, collaboration is considered suicidal. On account of such high cost Pharma companies have least interest in working on development of drugs for ailments which particularly affect the poor (TB, Malaria etc) or which affect few people are very limited. They are keener on development of drugs for lifestyle ailments like Blood Pressure and Coronary Diseases
It is in this area the model of open source development is attempting to play a role. Today there are only few such initiatives in the world like Tropical Drug Initiative (Participants from University of California Berkeley, Dukes University, University of Sydney), Institute of One World Health, TB Alliance etc.
OSDD initiated by CSIR is an initiative attempting to provide affordable health care to the developing world, presently focusing on development of drug for TB which today kills two people every three minutes in India. OSDD has taken of well with participation from about 4500 scientists/ students from 130 countries. It has completed mapping of TB bacteria genome a record time. It already has two molecules for TB in the pipeline. CSIR hopes that they will be able to bring out at least one drug for TB in the near future.
I asked Zac what has made this possible. “A few People with commitment and Tools that made collaboration possible” he replied. He introduced me to two fellow scientists who were with him then who is working from Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology(IGIB). Sridher Sivasubbu is a PhD in fish genetics and Vinod Scaria a medical doctor who is equally comfortable with computers. Both of them are young and highly qualified to have picked up high paying jobs in private sector in India or abroad. But they have decided to dedicate at least few years of their life to this initiative. Their energy level, enthusiasm and commitment for bringing multidisciplinary skills through collaboration to develop better drug for TB is awe-inspiring.
There are more of such dedicated scientists across the labs who share this passion. Zac suggested that I read the book “Geek Nation” by Angela Saini in which she has dedicated an entire chapter (titled The impossible drug) on this collaborative effort of a number of committed professionals from multiple labs across India to find a cure for TB. (This book is worth reading as it gives an interesting perspective on the dream, hope and possibility of India becoming a scientific super power).
What OSDD has done is to make the platform available to for these professionals to collaborate among each other and with the best around the world who are willing to join. I hope that OSDD is able to build on this momentum and don’t get ossified to a white elephant when the pioneers move on.
It is a commendable achievement for a government institution to work on such revolutionary models. We see such islands of excellence in many parts of the government. What is unfortunate is that often there is no mechanism to sustain this momentum. When the pioneers move on there is no planned succession. Successors are not selected keeping in mind the requirement of such exceptional institutions; but following a process which is meant to manage routine operations. And that is the tragedy of governance we face often.
Elephants can dance; so long as we play the right music…
"It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed." - Charles Darwin
Related Readings
Competitive Advantage - A case for blogs and wikis
If wishes were horses
Dare to Differ
If you like this post, share it with your friends
Though concept of Opens Source development has been in practice for a long time (though not in this name), it has become quite popular with the advent of internet, more so with the availability of collaboration tools (now referred to as web 2.0) which has enabled communities across the globe to work on solutions to complex problems.
Internet itself is product of such collaboration and Linux, the Operating System, is one of the most known open sources software. There are hundreds and thousands of such initiatives out there today in a variety of fields. Sequencing of human genome can be seen outcome of such a participative effort. However, in fields like Pharma where the cost of research, testing and regulatory approval can be phenomenal, collaboration is considered suicidal. On account of such high cost Pharma companies have least interest in working on development of drugs for ailments which particularly affect the poor (TB, Malaria etc) or which affect few people are very limited. They are keener on development of drugs for lifestyle ailments like Blood Pressure and Coronary Diseases
It is in this area the model of open source development is attempting to play a role. Today there are only few such initiatives in the world like Tropical Drug Initiative (Participants from University of California Berkeley, Dukes University, University of Sydney), Institute of One World Health, TB Alliance etc.
OSDD initiated by CSIR is an initiative attempting to provide affordable health care to the developing world, presently focusing on development of drug for TB which today kills two people every three minutes in India. OSDD has taken of well with participation from about 4500 scientists/ students from 130 countries. It has completed mapping of TB bacteria genome a record time. It already has two molecules for TB in the pipeline. CSIR hopes that they will be able to bring out at least one drug for TB in the near future.
I asked Zac what has made this possible. “A few People with commitment and Tools that made collaboration possible” he replied. He introduced me to two fellow scientists who were with him then who is working from Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology(IGIB). Sridher Sivasubbu is a PhD in fish genetics and Vinod Scaria a medical doctor who is equally comfortable with computers. Both of them are young and highly qualified to have picked up high paying jobs in private sector in India or abroad. But they have decided to dedicate at least few years of their life to this initiative. Their energy level, enthusiasm and commitment for bringing multidisciplinary skills through collaboration to develop better drug for TB is awe-inspiring.
There are more of such dedicated scientists across the labs who share this passion. Zac suggested that I read the book “Geek Nation” by Angela Saini in which she has dedicated an entire chapter (titled The impossible drug) on this collaborative effort of a number of committed professionals from multiple labs across India to find a cure for TB. (This book is worth reading as it gives an interesting perspective on the dream, hope and possibility of India becoming a scientific super power).
What OSDD has done is to make the platform available to for these professionals to collaborate among each other and with the best around the world who are willing to join. I hope that OSDD is able to build on this momentum and don’t get ossified to a white elephant when the pioneers move on.
It is a commendable achievement for a government institution to work on such revolutionary models. We see such islands of excellence in many parts of the government. What is unfortunate is that often there is no mechanism to sustain this momentum. When the pioneers move on there is no planned succession. Successors are not selected keeping in mind the requirement of such exceptional institutions; but following a process which is meant to manage routine operations. And that is the tragedy of governance we face often.
Elephants can dance; so long as we play the right music…
"It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed." - Charles Darwin
Related Readings
Competitive Advantage - A case for blogs and wikis
If wishes were horses
Dare to Differ
If you like this post, share it with your friends
great read. very inspiring story
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