Seven corporations, including Bayer and Johnson & Johnson, have joined academics in a crowd-sourcing and open innovation platform for the European drugs industry. The other corporations that are in aggregate are investing more than €100m ($120m) are AstraZeneca, Lundbeck, Merck KGaA, Sanofi and UCB Pharma.

The 30 partners in the European Lead Factory plans to contribute at least 300,000 compounds and develop about 200,000 more compounds.

Ton Rijnders, scientific director of the Dutch nonprofit TI Pharma, which is coordinating discovery efforts, told news provider Reuters: “It’s a big change for companies because their compound libraries have usually been kept very secret.

“They are doing this because it is cheaper than building ever larger libraries on their own–and partnering with academics gives them access to innovative ideas.”

Seven corporations, including Bayer and Johnson & Johnson, have joined academics in a crowd-sourcing and open innovation platform for the European drugs industry. The other corporations that are in aggregate are investing more than €100m ($120m) are AstraZeneca, Lundbeck, Merck KGaA, Sanofi and UCB Pharma.

The 30 partners in the European Lead Factory plans to contribute at least 300,000 compounds and develop about 200,000 more compounds.

Ton Rijnders, scientific director of the Dutch nonprofit TI Pharma, which is coordinating discovery efforts, told news provider Reuters: “It’s a big change for companies because their compound libraries have usually been kept very secret.

“They are doing this because it is cheaper than building ever larger libraries on their own–and partnering with academics gives them access to innovative ideas.”