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Paper short abstract

Most platforms in health operate in for-profit contexts, promising efficiency, connectivity, and visibility, but this organisational form also holds promise to serve the common good. We examine one such platform to broaden our conceptualisation of platforms and their added value in health.

Paper long abstract

Platformisation is one of this century’s most critical societal trends. The platformisation of health has been studied predominantly in for-profit contexts, giving rise to critiques along the lines of ‘googlisation’. Yet the platform as an organisational form also holds potential to be harnessed for the common good. We offer a broadened conceptualisation of platforms to include those serving the common good, illustrated by an ethnographic study of a publicly-funded drug repurposing platform (REMEDi4ALL), which incentivises the use of ‘old’ medicines for ‘new’ indications. Promising fast and low-cost drug development for all, the REMEDi4ALL platform challenges existing for-profit models of medical innovation, enables exchange of patient and professional expertise, and builds upon public-private partnerships. While riding the same waves of promised efficiency, connectivity, and visibility as most digital platforms in health, we show that platforms for the common good do not centre on individual visibility but foreground patient community and promote commodification rather than assetisation, inclusion over extraction, and diversification over monopolisation. Along with these characteristics, we discuss the precarious position of common good platforms like REMEDi4ALL as they continue to depend on public funding.