Can The Digital Crowd Cure Diseases Faster?

A March 2025 article by Deloitte revealed that the average cost to develop a drug in 2024 is $2.2 billion. It also appears that money isn't the only resource of which a gargantuan amount is expended in the development of medication, as Phrma.org reported that it takes around 10-15 years to bring a new drug to the market.

While the cost is seemingly difficult to argue against, traditional scientists do argue that the 15 year span it takes before a drug finally hits the market is necessary, as the process of drug development is a long, arduous process that consists of a laboratory phase, up to 3 phases of clinical trials and other regulatory reviews.

There is some validity to this argument. However, it ignores the fact that a significant portion of time spent each phase of drug development is due to difficulty in obtaining funds and other kinks in the process such as difficulty in obtaining data.

This presents a dilemma that is a source of concern, especially for anyone suffering from a rare disease, chronic debilitating disease and even mental health conditions — a long wait, one that may sadly outlive the patient.

There is however, a modern science movement called Decentralized Science (DeSci), that is willing to ask a difficult question: what if we stopped waiting for big institutions and let the "digital crowd" take the lead in some of these research processes, especially in the area of funding?

Let's take a look at how this ever-growing online community can take the initiative to help speed-run the process of finding cures, without compromising on the quality of research needed to be carried out to ensure patient safety, while upholding ethical standards:

1. Funding at rapid speed: As earlier stated, a lot of time is spent by scientists and researchers at every stage of drug research and testing sourcing for funds. Alot of grants are written and sent out, majority of which are rejected, as they are perceived as "too innovative" or "impracticable". The Digital Crowd can solve this challenge thanks to the advent of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), that can quickly decide on which researches to fund, thereby reducing the time spent by scientists waiting on government or other benevolent organizations in securing funding for these potentially lifesaving projects.

2. Obtaining crucial and relevant data: Data is quite difficult to obtain and compute, especially in biomedical research. DeSci leverages on blockchain technology to encourage "open science", which allows data to be collected, collated, stored and shared safely and quickly, thereby potentially increasing the speed of progression of research.

3. Patients as research partners: Most clinical trials struggle to find participants, especially for mental health conditions that are shrouded by stigma. Using secure, digital tools, blockchain technology and AI,
anyone can become a participant and contributor to research, even from the comfort of their homes. This can encourage massive increase in participants, which means trials finish faster and the treatments are likely to reach the public sooner.

My Takeaway

I think that it's no longer a question of whether the digital crowd can cure diseases faster. We are already starting to see it happen thanks to the rise of DAOs like VitaDAO, AthenaDAO and CerebrumDAO. I think that as the world continues to harness of this aspect of blockchain technology, we are more likely to experience a "speed-run" in the development of cures. I'll be keeping an eye on DeSci and DAOs, and I think you should too.

#DeSci #DAOs #Solana #Web3 #Health