BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Optimising access and innovation in science and medical R&\;D - Dr Tim Hubbard\, Head of Informatics and Head of Human Genome Analysis at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute DTSTART:20081113T193000Z DTEND:20081113T203000Z UID:TALK14509@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:Sarah Hopkins DESCRIPTION:The outputs of science can be thought of as information\, whic h gets recycled and drives new research and translation which derives prac tical benefits for society from scientific research. Traditionally both fu nctions have been facilitated by commercial gatekeepers: publishers managi ng information transfer and companies managing translation.\n\nRecently th ere has been a drive towards open data release and open access publishing models for science. This change has been driven by two factors. Firstly t he recognition that by enhancing access to information relevant to researc h\, these models stimulate innovation. Secondly\, the realisation that suc h open models can be sustainable: for researchers generating data the bene fits of open data release have been found to outweigh the possible harm an d therefore do not remove their incentives. Similarly\, business models ha ve been shown to exist that can be sustained and are compatible with open access publishing. In both cases the existence of the internet\, which has reduced information transfer and transaction costs to essentially zero\, has been a major factor in changing the balance of the economics between t raditional and open models. There remain challenges\, such as trying to e xtend the benefits of open access based research to datasets that contain private data\, such as personal genomics records.\n\nParallels can be draw n between these developments and analysis of the economic models supportin g translation\, such as pharmaceutical drug development. The traditional b usiness model for drug development has been of commercial R&D building on academic research leading to a patented product allowing R&D costs to be r ecovered through sales at high prices. While this market model works to so me extent\, it is non optimal in that it rations access to new medicines t hrough initial high prices and does not create incentives to develop treat ments where the market return would be too low. There has been an ongoing debate around the issue of neglected diseases and access to medicines for more than 20 years. Is it possible to construct business models that impro ve both incentives for innovation and access?\n\nI will discuss various ne w models to address these issues that have been proposed and/or are being tested\, including prize funds\, patent pools\, product development partne rships (PDPs) and advance purchase commitments (APCs) and review the proce ss that has taken place at the World Health Organisation 2003-2008 around the Commission for Intellectual Property rights\, Innovation and public He alth (CIPIH) and the follow on Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) that led to the Global strategy and plan of action on public health\, innovati on and intellectual property which was approved at the World Health Assemb ly in May 2008.\n LOCATION:Queen's building seminar room\, Emmanuel College END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR