Distributed Computing Attacking SARS

fwc writes "D2OL has added a SARS Target to it's distributed computing project which locates potential drug candidates for several viruses. At this point, I've replaced SETI@Home at least temporarily on all of my Boxen. There are clients available for Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, and of course Windows."

Comments

Who owns the results?

[The Original Yama]

Who owns the results once they've been calculated? Who gets paid royalties when a drug is developed from this data? I'm not going to donate my CPU time if SARS sufferers have to pay royalties (either directly or indirectly) to GlaxoSmithcline or the US Government (which IMHO isn't any better than a multinational corporation) for their medication.

Unless the results are released into the public domain or at least licensed under a BSD- or GPL-style license, I'm not touching it.

Re:Who owns the results?

[scalis]

Unless the results are released into the public domain or at least licensed under a BSD- or GPL-style license, I'm not touching it.

Id love to download a client that support your open-results based medical lab developing a cure for SARS.
Sine you dont have one and there is no one else to be found I see this as the second best thing.
In my book, developing a cure that will make someone else money is better than developing no cure at all.
Please provide a link and I will switch in a clockcycle.

Computational Modeling

[gt384u]

How do all of you out there feel about contributing your computing cycles to the private sector? Previous iterations of this idea have been through nonprofit/university research institutions, but this new post seems to be private enterprise driven. As noble the goal D2OL is working towards is, i still feel odd about the whole idea. I pose the following question to the general Slashdot community: How do you feel about your computing cycles being used for the research and development of pharmaceuticals (or any other imaginable private sector application) and said company reaping tremendous profits from this show of goodwill?

Will be the drug free??

[miceliux]

If they find the correct drug against SARS, will it be free? or will it be patented and only the rich countries will use it??

Story link is laggy

[Anonymous Coward]

With the `slashdotting` in full effect I thought I should repost the content here.

Scientists at CDC and other laboratories have detected a previously unrecognized coronavirus in patients with SARS. While the new coronavirus is still the leading hypothesis for the cause of SARS, other viruses are still under investigation as potential causes.

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that have a halo or crown-like (corona) appearance when viewed under a microscope. These viruses are a common cause of mild to moderate upper-respiratory illness in humans and are associated with respiratory, gastrointestinal, liver and neurologic disease in animals. Coronaviruses can survive in the environment for as long as three hours.

SARS is a respiratory illness that has recently been reported in Asia, North America, and Europe. The illness usually begins with a fever (measured temperature greater than 100.4F [>38.0C]). The fever is sometimes associated with chills or other symptoms, including headache, general feeling of discomfort, and body aches. Some people also experience mild respiratory symptoms at the outset.

After 2 to 7 days, SARS patients may develop a dry, nonproductive cough that might be accompanied by or progress to the point where insufficient oxygen is getting to the blood. In 10% to 20% of cases, patients will require mechanical ventilation.

The principal way SARS appears to be spread is through droplet transmission; namely, when someone sick with SARS coughs or sneezes droplets into the air and someone else breathes them in. It is possible that SARS can be transmitted more broadly through the air or from objects that have become contaminated.

TARGET - SARS Target 1

The new virus diverges by 50-60% from the three known groups of coronavirus. Because of the variation between coronovirus, scientists working with D2OL have selected a coronavirus protein target that has high conservation between human and animal strains. Three dimensional structure is actually more resistant to change than primary "sequence", and hence "SARS Target 1" is expected to have the same functionality and active site across all strains, and potentially allow for selection of compounds with broad activity against all coronovirus strains.

Several treatment regimens have been used for patients with SARS, but there is insufficient information at this time to determine if they have had a beneficial effect.

D2OL's target is also believed to be critical in the life cycle of the Coronovirus and drugs selected against it our expected to be viralcydal.

With your help we are testing compounds that are readily available, and credible "hits" can be tested in cell and animal models of the disease to confirm potential utility in man.

This is an easy decision for me

[The Tyro]

I work in Emergency Services, and have already had to deal with TWO suspected cases of SARS. Speaking as a physician, I'll donate my computing cycles, absolutely. The sooner a treatment is brought out, the better.

Here's how I feel about it: I hate having someone come into my ER when I have nothing to offer them. I feel a powerful ethical and professional obligation to take care of people, and do whatever I can for them. I do my best for each and every single patient I see, even if it's somebody who has been through maximal surgery/chemo for their cancer, and has literally reached the end of what medical science can do for them. For such folks, sometimes all I can do is hold their hand and offer a little reassurance, but at least it's SOMETHING. I hate having someone die right in front of me, and being powerless to prevent it. Call it a God complex if you want... I call it wanting to be able to help people. Having people die, and having nothing to say and no way to say it... well, that bothers me, call me crazy.

I don't particularly mind not having a cure for the common cold... a cold is an annoyance, nothing more. I very much DISLIKE not having a treatment for a lethal condition.

I personally don't care who develops the cure... Pharmcos are often painted as evil opportunists that prey on the illnesses of others... I disagree. I like Pharmcos, because they keep my arsenal full, which makes me MUCH more effective at my job. I don't accept Hawaii trips from them, but I'll accept lunch and a couple of pens if they're going to give me some clinically useful information (and hell, I have to write with something). I resent the AMA (I am NOT a member, BTW, for this reason and others) preaching to me about the "unethical behavior" of having dealings with drug reps. Do they really think I'm going to sell out my ethics, my oaths, and my patients because somebody took me to dinner?? I'm sorry, but that's a fucking insult.

I prescribe what I want, within the standard of care, regardless of what drug reps say. I always use cheap if I can, expensive if cheap won't work... but I like the fact that Pharmcos give me tools to take better care of patients.

The sooner a cure for SARS shows up, the happier I'll be.