Collaborating on Collaboration - Validating Open Source Software

I'm delighted to hear that "Open Source Software in Life Science Research: Practical Solutions to Common Challenges in the Pharmaceutical Industry and Beyond" has just been published (available from Woodhead Publishing and also on Amazon).

 

The book has an interesting history, having started life as a discussion on LinkedIn on the use of open source software in the Life Sciences industry. After a very illuminating discussion it was suggested that we write a book on the subject and so Lee Harland of Pfizer and Mark Forster of Syngenta U.K. agreed to take on the editing of the book, which would look at the how open source software is used in our industry.

The result is a comprehensive look at the the current state of the market, with chapters looking at the use of various open source tools and packages looking at predictive toxicology, mass spectrometry, image processing, data analytics, high throughput genomic data analysis, web based collaboration and many, many more applications. As well as addressing general issues the book looks at specific tools and applications and is a useful reference for anyone looking for a guide as to the kind of software that is out there (many of these applications are quite well 'hidden' on the Internet!)

Without doubt, open source software is widely used in pharmaceutical research and development and is transforming the way the industry works in many ways. Open source software has many advantages - it's free to acquire and rather than wait for a software vendor to understand and respond to market requirements, the developer community just goes ahead and extends functionality in the direction that research and development needs.

My contribution to the book ("Validation and Regulatory Compliance of Free/Open Source Software") sounds a slightly more cautious note, highlighting when open source software may require validation, the challenges of validating open source software and sharing some ideas on how to go about it - including collaboratively!

This can be challenging, time consuming and does of course have costs associated with it, which is why we see less open source software in GMP areas. However, I have no doubt that the trend to collaboratively develop niche applications will continue to expand, especially with the prevalence of mature software development tools and Platform-as-a-Service development environments.

The process of collaborating to write a book is quite interesting - just like collaborating to develop software you're not quite sure what you're going to get, sometimes some contributors may head off at a tangent and you're never quite sure when everything is going to be delivered. Well done to Lee and Mark for sticking with the process. I think that the end result is well worth the wait.