Non-fungible tokens as a framework for sustainable innovation in pharmaceutical R&D: a smart contract-based platform for data sharing and rightsholder protection

Figures & data

Table 1. The challenges, benefits and risks of research collaboration.

Challenge	Benefits	Risks & Problems	Example
Transparency	Better, more agile collaboration	Undermines IPR strategies and prior art	Disclosure of drug discovery molecules, structure and/or functionality
Commercial Interests	Identifying best partners & minimizing mistakes	Reduce competitive advantage	Interest in specific drug target
Sharing Data	Joint efforts in solving complex scientific problems	Unclear or no standard licensing mechanisms and reduced ‘control’ of open data	Facilitate early research ideas
Incentivizing & Rewarding Collaboration	Incentivizing traceability and reward and acknowledgement systems	Inadequate recognition of who has contributed what and when	Building on, or adding to third party data
Promoting Institutional Collaboration	Synergy in research infrastructure and capabilities	A lack of technical, legal, organizational, and semantic interoperability	Connecting databases, user agreements and technical interfaces

Figure 1. Three models of collaborative research.

Figure 2. Molecular structure (InChi) vs. fingerprint (InChiKey).

Figure 3. The ethanol molecule.

Table 2. The SMILES, InChI & InChIKey for ethanol.

Type	Value
SMILES	CCO
InChI	InChI = 1S/C2H6O/c1-2-3/h3H,2H2,1H3
InChIKey	LFQSCWFLJHTTHZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N

Table 3. Molecule information stored on blockchain.

Version	Version number for the data format
Asset Owner	The owner of the asset in the real world
Contributors	References to actors that have made contributions to work on the molecule
Physical & Chemical Properties	A list of physical and chemical properties for the molecule with associated values
Biological Properties	A list of biological properties for the molecule with associated values
External Data	References to data that is associated with the molecule that can be found outside of the blockchain
Molecule Structure	The SMILES, InChI, or InChIKey, or nothing depending on the license level of the molecule
License Level	The license for the molecule
Name	The name of the molecule
Asset Administrator	The identity that has the authority to administer the molecule in the blockchain
Uniqueness	Uniqueness information of the molecule. Specifies if the molecule is unique, where the uniqueness service searched for the molecule, and if applicable, where the uniqueness service found other molecules with the same InChIKey
Upload Time	A timestamp, when the molecule was uploaded

Table 4. FAIR guiding principles (Wilkinson et al. 2016).

Findable:	Meta(data) are assigned a globally unique and persistent identifier^a
	Data are described with rich metadata
	Metadata clearly and explicitly include the identifier of the data it describes
	Meta(data) are registered or indexed in a searchable source
Accessible:	Meta(data) are retrievable by their identifier using a standardized communication protocol
	The protocol is open, free, and universally implementable
	The protocol allows for an authentication and authorization procedure, where necessary
	Metadata are accessible, even when the data are no longer available
Interoperable:	Meta(data) uses a formal, accessible, shared and broadly applicable language for knowledge representation
	Meta(data) use vocabularies that follow FAIR principles
	Meta(data) includes qualified references to other meta(data)
Reusable:	Meta(data) are richly described with a plurality of accurate and relevant attributes
	Meta(data) are released with a clear and accessible data usage license
	Meta(data) are associated with detailed provenance
	Meta(data) meets domain-relevant community standards

^a A unique and persistent identifier is a long-lasting reference to a digital resource.

Wilkinson, Mark D., Michel Dumontier, IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg, Gabrielle Appleton, Myles Axton, Arie Baak, Niklas Blomberg, et al. 2016. “The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship.” Scientific Data 3 (1): 160018. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18.

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