Techdirt reported on Friday about a Wall Street Journal article discussing how the current patent system encourages researchers to keep findings secret as long as posssible because the financial payoff is more lucrative. The WSJ article talks about how this has slowed down the amount of new drugs submitted for FDA approval.

From Techdirt:

Part of the patent system is that it’s supposed to help by getting ideas published, but with those patents being so lucrative and everyone keeping quiet it means that the various ideas were being held for as long as possible — slowing down all sorts of medical advancement. It appears that some medical researchers are finally recognizing this. The Wall Street Journal today has an article noting that only 20 new drugs were approved last year, and researchers are blaming the lack of collaboration for the failure to see any more breakthroughs. However, some are finally changing this practice and looking to share more information, much earlier in the process in order to try to build up more practical ideas more quickly.

What if this system had to compete with an Open Knowledge Commons? Would more people ultimately be attracted to the “open”-liscensed drugs because they innovate solutions to problems better? Would more people be attracted to drugs developed this way because they might be lower priced due to the nature of the way that they are developed? Is it possible to create a lucrative for-profit drug research, development, and manufacturing/distribution system based around “open” drug knowledge commons research and development?