Navigating open-source waters: the pharmaceutical industry’s role in bioontology development

Bioontologies are core to many data management strategies, artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives, and search functionality within many pharmaceutical companies. Despite their integral role, many bioontologies, along with their associated tools, are maintained predominantly by academia and their partners, government supported initiatives, and the general community. In this comment, we will dive into some of the reasons behind this trend and argue that there exists a mutual advantage for the life science industry, and pharmaceutical companies in particular, to actively contribute to the advancement of public ontologies and open-source tools. This benefit extends beyond ethical and moral considerations and aligns with strategic interests. Additionally, we will explore practical approaches for contributing, sharing our (Novo Nordisk's research and early development) experience in doing so.