At COSMIC (Catalogue Of Somatic Mutations In Cancer), we ensure that high-quality, expertly curated cancer variant data is freely accessible to the global academic research community. To achieve this in a sustainable and impactful manner, we developed a licensing model that supports our status as a self-funded, not-for-profit resource. In this blog post, we’re lifting the curtain on how our licensing works, why we’ve chosen this path, and how our collaboration with our commercial partner, QIAGEN, ensures that COSMIC remains a valuable tool for both academic and commercial users worldwide.

 

Why we adopted a sustainable licensing model

 

COSMIC originated as a grant-funded project under Wellcome at The Sanger Institute, and we remain committed to the ethos of open science and data sharing. As demand for our data and services grew over the years, particularly from commercial organisations, we recognised the need for a sustainable business model that would allow us to keep pace with the rapidly evolving world of cancer genomics without relying on grants or institutional funding.

We therefore decided to switch to an entirely self-funding approach via licensing our Knowledgebase. This ensures that:

 

• COSMIC data remains free for academic research use, supporting open science and global collaboration.
• Licenced users contribute to the sustainability of the resource, enabling us to continue investing in data quality, expert curation, infrastructure, and innovation.

This approach enables COSMIC to remain independent, while maintaining the highest standards of data integrity and ultimately carrying out our mission: Uniting academic, industry and clinical data to enable the fight against cancer.

 

How our licensing model works

 

COSMIC offers two main licensing options:

 

1. Academic Use
   Free for those carrying out research or education in a not-for-profit setting, academic access provides full use of COSMIC data through our website and download portal. This supports thousands of users worldwide working in cancer biology, target investigation, and clinical research.
2. Commercial Use 

Commercial organisations, such as pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies and those carrying out clinical reporting or using COSMIC for patient-related services can access COSMIC data after purchasing a licence. These users can access COSMIC data via our commercial distribution partner, QIAGEN.

 

 

Working with our commercial distributor: QIAGEN

 

To better support the complex requirements of all our commercial users, COSMIC has partnered with QIAGEN Digital Insights, a global leader in bioinformatics and genomics. QIAGEN acts as our exclusive distributor for commercial licensing, assisting with and expanding our capacity for sales, licensing agreements, marketing and customer support for COSMIC's commercial users.

 

“At COSMIC, we’ve built a licensing model that keeps our work impactful and sustainable, offering free access for academic users and licensed use for our commercial users. This balance means we can support collaboration across research, industry, and clinics, while securing the resources needed to expand, innovate, and keep pace with the rapid growth of cancer genomics data.”

Ilaria Fasanella, PhD, Head of Commercial & Business Development, COSMIC

 

This partnership enables COSMIC to remain focused on what we do best: curating high-quality somatic mutation data, advancing our scientific contributions, and developing new features and datasets that benefit the entire cancer research ecosystem.

 

How our model powers progress 

 

Unlike some data providers, COSMIC does not aim to generate profit for shareholders. Everything generated through commercial licensing is reinvested into the resource. This means:

 

• Data curation stays cutting-edge, with frequent updates and rigorous quality control.
• We support collaboration and partnerships with the global cancer research community.
• Our education and outreach continues to evolve, developing webinars, trainings and resources that help our users get the most out of our COSMIC data.

'As the Account Manager for COSMIC, I speak to many organisations around the globe that rely on the COSMIC data as a critical component of their research, analysis pipelines, and workflows. Our unique licensing model ensures we can continue to deliver high-quality up-to-date datasets and tools to these users and develop the COSMIC resource to meet their ever-evolving needs.'

Zoe Sheard, Account Manager for COSMIC

 

By balancing free academic access with commercial licensing, COSMIC ensures that everyone in the research community can benefit from the world’s most comprehensive somatic mutation knowledgebase.

 

Learn more

If you’re a commercial organisation interested in licensing COSMIC data, you can explore your options here. For more information, contact COSMIC via cosmic@sanger.ac.uk or fill out our contact form here

 

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