Patent-free open-source development of repurposed and off-patent cancer drugs
Fund trials of old, cheap drugs with anti-cancer signals without seeking patents, and have generic makers produce them, so cost, not profit, decides whether patients get them.
A philanthropic programme (building on the Anticancer Fund, Cures Within Reach and the Repurposing Drugs in Oncology project) selects repurposing candidates by strength of signal (for example propranolol in angiosarcoma, metformin in specific molecular subgroups, mebendazole, statins in defined contexts), funds definitive randomised trials through academic networks, and commits in advance to open, patent-free results with pre-agreed generic supply. Label changes are pursued through regulatory pathways that allow non-commercial sponsors, or through guideline inclusion where labelling is impractical. Pairing with the non-profit pharma and indication-exclusivity ideas makes the economics self-sustaining.
- Incentives reward me-too drugs and marginal gains · The system pays the same for a drug that adds two months as for a cure, so companies race to copy rather than to cure.
- No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs · Old, cheap drugs with anti-cancer signals never get the trials they need because no one profits from the result.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaA public fund and label pathway to trial generic drugs against cancer
Shares No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs, Incentives reward me-too drugs and marginal gains, Prostate cancer, Colorectal cancer.
- IdeaThree years of indication-specific exclusivity for proving a new cancer use of an old drug
Shares No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs, Incentives reward me-too drugs and marginal gains.
- IdeaPayers pre-commit to cover off-label generics when a definitive trial is positive
Shares No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs, Incentives reward me-too drugs and marginal gains.
- IdeaAutomatic offer of shelved cancer assets to non-profits after two years
Shares A repurposing label pathway with short exclusivity that non-profits can hold, A non-profit pharmaceutical company for the cancers markets ignore.
- IdeaAdvance market commitments for paediatric and rare cancer drugs
Shares A non-profit pharmaceutical company for the cancers markets ignore, Incentives reward me-too drugs and marginal gains, Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST).
- IdeaA $50 million prize for the first off-patent drug proven to extend cancer survival
Shares No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs, Incentives reward me-too drugs and marginal gains.
- IdeaPerioperative beta-blocker plus COX-2 inhibitor to reduce metastasis after surgery
Shares No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs, Colorectal cancer.
- IdeaPay a prize for rare cancer drugs instead of hoping for a market
Shares Incentives reward me-too drugs and marginal gains, Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST).