How Informatics Can Potentiate Precompetitive Open-Source Collaboration to Jump-Start Drug Discovery and Development

Much enthusiasm and energy are being directed toward open-source software approaches, precompetitive data sharing, and external innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry. At Johnson & Johnson (J&J), we have undertaken aggressive approaches to optimizing productivity and progress to address unmet medical needs. In this article, tranSMART, a fully translational data warehouse based on the open-source i2b2 platform, serves as a case study and the basis for discussing the positive role that informatics can play in accelerating translational research.