Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Precompetitive consortia in biomedicine—how are we doing?

Nature Biotechnology volume 31, pages 979–985 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Too few precompetitive consortia are being formed to mitigate lost opportunities and deliver on other potential mutual gains for public and private stakeholders in drug development.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. FDA. The beginnings: laboratory and animal studies. Information for Consumers (Drugs) http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm143475.htm (2011).

  2. Miller, G. Necessity driving leery pharma “open.” FiercebiotechIThttp://www.fiercebiotechit.com/story/necessity-driving-leery-pharma-open/2011-04-04(2013).

  3. Pollack, A. Drug makers join efforts in research. New York Times (20 September 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J. & Lawson, C. Valuing the commons: a fundamental challenge across complex systems. (NSF, Washington, DC, 2010).

  5. Bunin, B.A. & Ekins, S. Drug Discov. Today 16, 643–645 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Lessl, M., Bryans, J.S., Richards, D. & Asadullah, K. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 10, 241–242 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. DiMasi, J.A., Hansen, R.W. & Grabowski, H.G. J. Health Econ. 22, 151–185 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Toronto International Data Release Workshop Authors. Nature 461, 168–170 (2009).

  9. Hunter, J. & Stephens, S. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 9, 87–88 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Munos, B. Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 87, 534–536 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Waitz, I., Townsend, J., Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J., Greitzer, E. & Kerrebrock, J. Aviation and the environment: a national vision statement, goals and recommended actions. http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/partner/reports/congrept_aviation_envirn.pdf (FAA/NASA, Washington, DC, 2004).

  12. Masum, H. & Harris, R. Open source for neglected diseases: magic bullet or mirage? (Results for Development Institute, Washington, DC, 2011).

  13. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J., Mittleman, B., Dickherber, A., Mayrand-Chung, S. & Franks, A. Stakeholder alignment in the Biomarkers Consortium. (NSF-VOSS EAGER 0956472, Washington, DC, 2012).

  14. Woelfle, M., Olliaro, P. & Todd, M.H. Nat. Chem. 3, 745–748 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J., Barrett, B. & Lawson, C. Building the internal organization to support lateral alignment: a case study of the Office of Environment and Energy, Federal Aviation Administration http://ssrn.com/abstract=2345248 (MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2005).

  16. Walton, R. & McKersie, R. A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations. (McGraw Hill, New York, 1965).

    Google Scholar 

  17. DiMasi, J.A., Hansen, R.W. & Grabowski, H.G. The price of innovation: new estimates of drug development costs. J. Health Econ. 22, 151–185 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Wagner, J.A. et al. Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 86, 619–625 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We appreciate support for this research provided under NSF-VOSS EAGER 0956472, “Stakeholder Alignment in Socio-Technical Systems.”

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Barbara Mittleman was at the US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA and is presently at Nodality, South San Francisco, California, USA.,

    Barbara Mittleman

  2. Garry Neil is at Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.,

    Garry Neil

  3. Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld is at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA.,

    Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld

Authors
  1. Barbara Mittleman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Garry Neil
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbara Mittleman.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mittleman, B., Neil, G. & Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J. Precompetitive consortia in biomedicine—how are we doing?. Nat Biotechnol 31, 979–985 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2731

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2731

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing