For Innovation, Open Science Means Open for Business

Richard Gold (McGill University) and Max Morgan (SGC, M4k Pharma) penned an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail discussing how open science projects with no patents can result in local economic development, citing the recent $1Billion investment deal that Celgene signed with the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and their commercialization arm FACIT to advance a potential drug for leukemia.

The proprietary molecule is based on the SGC’s open access WDR5 chemical probe, originally co-developed with OICR. The openly shared chemical probe determined that targeting WDR5 can slow the growth of leukemia cells as well as other types of cancers.

The Celgene investment is considered the largest transaction to date for a preclinical asset in Canada and showcases how open science can spur innovation and create economic benefits even without a foundational patent.

An open access version of the article is available courtesy of the Centre for International Governance Innovation: https://www.cigionline.org/articles/innovation-open-science-means-open-business