Two weeks ago, Amy Clark wrote that an open-source model can — and should — be applied to scientific research in the pharmaceutical industry. Using insights from Ashoka Fellow Stephen Friend, she showed that open-source science would eliminate redundant efforts and fast-track lifesaving drugs.
Open-source software development methods — whose success stories include Linux, Firefox, WordPress, Drupal and OpenOffice — are based on the simple idea that source code should be available for anyone to freely use, redistribute and modify.