ASAP Discovery: Balancing Open Science and Intellectual Property to Discover and Develop Medicines

Drug discovery organizations typically recoup their investment by filing patents, granting them monopolies on drug manufacturing and sales, allowing them to control pricing and distribution. This creates global access issues. Alternatively, in an "Open Science" approach, R&D organizations publish all information about a drug without patents, enabling anyone to use it but without control over its pricing or distribution. In a pandemic, this lack of control can hinder rapid drug development and access, while patents can lead to price distortions. Here we share and discuss the ASAP AViDD Centre’s model that balances innovation with global fairness by using "maximally permissive licenses" and "minimally defensive patents." This model prioritizes affordable pricing and global equitable access while maintaining control over the most crucial aspects of drug development. We will discuss our experience in developing and using this model.