Open Source Code Contributions to Global Health: The Case of Antimalarial Drug Discovery

The discovery of treatments for infectious diseases that affect the poorest countries has been stagnant for decades. As long as expected returns on investment remain low, pharmaceutical companies’ lack of interest in this disease area must be compensated for with collaborative efforts from the public sector. New approaches to drug discovery, inspired by the “open source” philosophy prevalent in software development, offer a platform for experts from diverse backgrounds to contribute their skills, enhancing reproducibility, progress tracking, and public discussion. Here, we present the first efforts of Ersilia, an initiative focused on attracting data scientists into contributing to global health, toward meeting the goals of Open Source Malaria, a consortium of medicinal chemists investigating antimalarial compounds using a purely open science approach. We showcase the chemical space exploration of a set of triazolopyrazine compounds with potent antiplasmodial activity and discuss how open source practices can serve as a common ground to make drug discovery more inclusive and participative.