At the beginning of this year, the world was a different place, unrecognizable compared to the world we inhabit today. Over the past three months, we have witnessed the fabric of society change in profound ways previously unfathomable. We are living through, perhaps, the defining event of our lifetimes, and we will be judged by the history books based on how well we respond to the challenge at hand.

We are currently facing one of the largest healthcare crises in modern history — and it’s far from over. The hunt for cures and vaccines for COVID-19 is forcing scientists, governments and the public at large to rethink our current biopharma innovation models. They’re too slow, too expensive and risky. But there’s hope, because the current focus on vaccine and drug development is unparalleled in history and with it, scientists across the globe are quickly developing new collaborative ways of working together. I believe this crisis will catalyze a paradigm shift for new business models in pharma and biotech. Open markets in which drugs can be approved on much shorter time frames and smaller budgets, bringing treatments to patients at a fraction of the current cost. This shift is unavoidable. And it will be facilitated by new digital platforms that drive open science. We will break away from the traditional paradigm in drug discovery — to frictionless data sharing without the commercial constraints of intellectual property.

In a few short weeks, we will be launching one of our flagship longevity projects with the University of Copenhagen’s Center for Healthy Aging. Here, our Chief Scientific Officer, Tyler Golato, discusses why Molecule is doubling down on longevity.