{"entity":{"id":"idea-moon-open-source-oncology-drug-discovery","kind":"idea","name":"Open-source drug discovery to clinical proof of concept for neglected cancers","aka":[],"tldr":"For cancers too rare or too poor to attract companies, run drug discovery in the open, the way neglected tropical diseases are tackled, and take candidates to first human trials with public money.","summary":"Paediatric cancers, rare adult cancers and cancers concentrated in low-income countries (Burkitt lymphoma, Kaposi sarcoma, oesophageal squamous cancer in East Africa) receive little industry investment. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative delivered new treatments through open, partnered development. The proposal is an oncology equivalent: open target selection, shared compound libraries, contract chemistry and preclinical development, patent-free or non-exclusive licensing, and public or philanthropic funding through phase 2, with generic manufacturers engaged early.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Rare and paediatric cancers without markets): Gatta et al., Rare cancers are not so rare: the rare cancer burden in Europe (EJC 2011)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2011.08.008"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["neuroblastoma","esophageal","sarcoma"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-rare-cancers","b-funding-allocation","b-ip-collaboration"],"keyPapers":["paper-gatta-eur-j-cancer"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"The initiative delivers at least two candidates to positive phase 2 within eight years for indications with no industry programmes, at a fraction of standard development cost.","rationale":"Where markets fail, product development partnerships have produced approved drugs; oncology has more validated biology to start from than most neglected diseases did.","test":"Fund three programmes (one paediatric, one rare adult, one LMIC-concentrated cancer) with public milestones and open data; success is one investigational new drug filing within four years.","maturity":"speculative","actor":"philanthropy","cost":"large","horizonYears":8},"route":"/ideas/idea-moon-open-source-oncology-drug-discovery/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"neuroblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Neuroblastoma (paediatric)","route":"/cancers/neuroblastoma/"},{"id":"esophageal","kind":"cancer","name":"Oesophageal cancer","route":"/cancers/esophageal/"},{"id":"sarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)","route":"/cancers/sarcoma/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-funding-allocation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Funding follows fashion, not burden","route":"/bottlenecks/b-funding-allocation/"},{"id":"b-rare-cancers","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Rare and paediatric cancers without markets","route":"/bottlenecks/b-rare-cancers/"},{"id":"b-ip-collaboration","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Secrecy and intellectual property block collaboration","route":"/bottlenecks/b-ip-collaboration/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-gatta-eur-j-cancer","kind":"paper","name":"Rare cancers are not so rare: the rare cancer burden in Europe","route":"/key-papers/paper-gatta-eur-j-cancer/"}]}}