Open Science Policy and Advocacy

Open science principles are gaining acceptance as a means to increase the efficiency, transparency, and reproducibility of biomedical research.  But much more needs to be done to place open science at the forefront of the innovation agenda.  Agora aims to study and promote open science both as an innovation policy tool and also as a means to generate social and economic benefits for participating communities. 

We are also pushing governments and health regulators to adopt new funding mechanisms and incentives that encourage open science development of affordable medicines. For example, our testimony before the Canadian Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health helped the Committee to issue a report calling on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to provide funding for open science models of drug discovery and on Health Canada to develop regulatory incentives for pharmaceutical companies that share research data openly and implement affordable prices for their products.

Read our submission to Health Canada’s public consultation regarding high cost rare disease drugs here. Our presentations to policy stakeholders on open science drug discovery and regulatory reform can be found here and here.