THE TRIUMPH OF THE COMMONS
Feb 10th 2005 http://www.economist.co.uk/

Can open source revolutionise biotech?

THE computing industry has been transformed by open-source software,
threatening business models while creating lucrative opportunities for
some firms. Might the same happen in biotechnology? In a paper
published in NATURE on February 10th, a group of researchers describe a
way to transfer genes into plants that bypasses the now most commonly
used technique, agrobacterium transformation, which is protected by
hundreds of patents. The new process may provide an alternative method
of modifying certain types of crops in order to, say, improve harvests.
But what makes the invention particularly notable is that the authors,
affiliated with CAMBIA, a non-profit biotech research group in
Australia, have made the procedure free for use under a novel
"open-source" licence.

This licence allows people to commercialise products based on the
procedure. All that is required is that improvements to the technique
itself be shared, to the benefit of all users. This should make it
easier for companies and researchers in poor countries to use
agricultural gene-transfer technology, which today's patent-licensing
approach impedes.


"The idea is to try to craft a system so that we have a different way
to do business," says Richard Jefferson, the head of CAMBIA and a
co-author of the paper. "This is a demonstration of a way forward for
an innovation business model," he says, which could help unleash
creativity in poorer countries. This week, the group also unveiled a
website, BioForge.net[1], to help biotech researchers to collaborate,
much as SourceForge.net[2] is a nexus for open-source software
development.

Although open-source approaches have already been used in
biotech-related computing (called bioinformatics) and database sharing,
CAMBIA's licence represents an actual technique being provided in an
open-source form. It is part of a broader push towards open practices
in the life sciences. For example, Science Commons, an offshoot of
Creative Commons (which provides less restrictive copyright licences to
authors), is preparing to develop open licences later this year.

CAMBIA's technique, and its open-source licence, "is a potentially huge
deal for people working in minor crops, on humanitarian projects, and
even for smaller companies working with the major crops," says Lisa
Lorenzen of Iowa State University. Calestous Juma of Harvard
University's Kennedy School of Government believes the approach is
viable because "you have the incentive to invent, but you also have the
raw materials--information--with which to invent."

The dominant patent holder in agrobacterium transformation, the most
widely-used means of plant gene-transfer, is Monsanto, a big
agricultural firm. The firm says that, although it is not very familiar
with open-source approaches in the life sciences, the technology seems
to complement, not threaten, its business model.

 In information technology, some firms, including mighty Microsoft, are
severely threatened by open source. Yet other firms, including big ones
such as IBM, have evolved business models to embrace open source, which
contributes greatly to their revenues. The question is, can open-source
biotech also find its way into drug development, where the costs are
higher and potential profits greater?

Pedants will note that CAMBIA's approach is not pure open source, since
the group relied on grants from foundations to develop the technology
rather than on volunteers. Moreover, the licence itself is not
completely unique, in that royalty-free, non-exclusive technology
agreements that stipulate sharing improvements have existed before. But
these are quibbles. The open-source-like approach may not revolutionise
the biotech industry, but it is a notable step in a new direction.

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[1] http://www.bioforge.net
[2] http://www.sourceforge.net