Table 4.

Barriers to collaboration: current status, future avenues, and the contribution of the Pharma Portal

Barriers to collaborative initiatives in drug repositioning	Current status	Possible future avenues	Pharma Portal contribution
Reluctance of pharmaceutical companies to release compounds for use as a shared resource	Companies at different stages of implementing internal repositioning strategies Few examples to date of compound transfers	Approach companies regarding molecular entities that are near or past patent expiration Utilize NCGC database as a source of knowledge about compounds	Initiated dialog with several companies Brought to light possibility of large public–private partnership Elevated awareness of collaborative opportunity
Difficulty identifying potential collaborators	Considerable human resources are engaged in both academia and industry to understand scientific expertise and identify potential partners	Online tools offer opportunity to streamline search for complementary skills and knowledge Combining several databases may produce a powerful collaboration tool	OHSU together with Pfizer IDU developed the first prototype of the collaborative research visualization tool (FoX) UW created a readily deployed database of academic researchers as a source of potential collaborators
Prolonged drug MTA negotiations	Many MTA provisions have been standardized, including widely accepted IP license provisions	Consolidate MTA negotiations to a single shared resource vested with task of maintaining and distributing compound library	CWHM has agreed to be a compound repository site and negotiate MTAs Considerable progress in developing MTA provisions
Lack of funding for drug repositioning research	Many non-profit organizations fund specific disease areas	A disease-independent funding source with a nimble funding mechanism	Over 20 CTSA universities signed with Partnership for Cures

OSHU, Oregon Health and Sciences University; UW, University of Washington.