- “The valley of death” causes 80-90% of research efforts to fail before they can be tested on humans.
- The web3 stack is used by the Decentralized Science (Desci) movement to develop a new scientific research paradigm.
According to the latest Binance Research ReportThere are many obstacles in the way of scientific research, especially when it comes to using translational research to transform basic results into practical applications. “The valley of death” causes 80-90% of research efforts to fail before they can be tested on humans, and only 0.1% of the drug candidates are authorized as treatments.
The majority of research fails in the “death valley” due to misguided incentives between academics, financing agencies and industry. These issues include a lack of financing, reduced collaboration between researchers and clinics and low replicability and reproducibility of scientific discoveries.
The web3 stack is used by the Decentralized Science (Desci) movement to develop a new scientific research paradigm that can address the above issues.
Desci can solve the primary coordination issue by using blockchains, smart contracts and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOS). This provides incentives to see research to the clinical phases by allowing different stakeholder groups to adapt their interests in capital formation.
Infrastructure, research, data services and MEM are the four main areas of innovation that we have discovered in the Desci landscape. Infrastructure consists of sub -sectors that act as the basis for Desci Daos, such as financing platforms and DAO tools.
Grassroot Desci communities that organize events all over the world and DAOs that formalize shared interests from many stakeholders are examples of research. Data management tools that provide robust data integrity and access restrictions for teamwork are examples of data services, as well as publishing and peer review platforms that facilitate open access to scientific publications.
Memes can be used as an investment vehicle for other Desci initiatives or as a direct source of funding for scientific experiments. Although basic and translational research can already be supported by the current stack, clinical research serves – where products directly benefit patients – not as good.
In summary, decentralized science has already developed sufficiently to influence the current scientific research. Taking up the “death valley” in research is already a significant progress, despite several gaps and difficulties in the current landscape.
We are just starting to see decentralized science to take progress in today’s scientific practice. To ensure that there is sufficient interest to see research at the clinical phases, decentralized science can be able to gather stakeholders from the beginning.
There is currently the infrastructure in place to organize research in a decentralized way. In order to improve collaboration between different scientific groups, adapted stakeholders can formalize their common interest in scientific research through DAOs, contribute funding and conduct research where they can own the resulting IP. They can also safely exchange data while following the rules for data protection.
However, the current stack is less suitable for clinical research and more for basic and translational research. While the latter phases of research need collaboration with centralized units such as supervisory authorities, pharmaceutical companies, physical laboratories, etc., the previous stages require more reliable coordination.
