AstraZeneca Joins BioWisdom’s ‘Safety Intelligence’ Program
BioWisdom said this week that AstraZeneca has signed a three-year agreement for its Safety Intelligence Program, an initiative to develop an “intelligence system” to analyze drug safety and toxicity data for use in drug discovery and development.
Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca becomes the first partner for the Safety Intelligence Program and joins BioWisdom’s SIP board, an advisory group.
The Safety Intelligence Program aims to develop an intelligence system to support drug safety risk assessment at early stages of the drug discovery process.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Simulations Plus Reports $7 Percent Increase in Q3 Revenues
Simulations Plus, which makes pharmaceutical simulation and modelling software, said that its third-quarter revenues increased 47.1 percent to $2.6 million from $1.8 million in the prior-year period.
The company said that revenues for the quarter ended May 31 set a record for the company.
R&D expense increased 91 percent to $227,000 from $119,000 in the third quarter of 2006, primarily due to expansions within the company’s life sciences staff.
Net income more than doubled to $782,292 from $ 386,138.
The company had $3 million in cash and cash equivalents as of May 31.
CLC Bio Raises Funding for Bioinformatics Product Development
Bioinformatics solution provider CLC Bio said this week that it has raised an undisclosed amount of financing from Danish private investors.
The group of private investors has a capital base of more than $200 million and a goal of continually securing adequate resources and expertise for CLC Bio to “develop ground-breaking end-to-end bioinformatics solutions,” according to a CLC press release.
CLC Bio markets a line of software for DNA, RNA and protein sequence analysis.
The company said that the extra financing will enable it to speed development of these products.
Some of the new focus areas are end-to-end solutions for genomics research and solutions for handling computational challenges associated with DNA sequencing techniques.
GNI Allies with Biobase to Enhance Cell Illustrator 3.0
GNI, an Asia-based biopharmaceutical company, said this week that it has formed a technology and business alliance with Biobase, a provider of biological databases, knowledge tools, and software for the life science industry.
GNI and Biobase will further develop and market Cell Illustrator 3.0, a biological illustration and biopathway modeling software tool.
Cell Illustrator, developed by GNI in collaboration with the University of Tokyo, allows biologists to create computer images and simulations of complex metabolic and gene regulatory pathways, signal transduction cascades, and dynamic interactions.
Under terms of the alliance, Biobase will develop an interface to connect Cell Illustrator to its biological databases, which should provide users of Cell Illustrator with easier access to pathway information and the ability to use the simulation function.
Frost & Sullivan Sees Upswing in ELN Adoption in Europe
According to a new report from market research firm Frost & Sullivan, electronic laboratory notebooks have seen a 40 percent increase in adoption in the European market over the last five years.
Frost & Sullivan said in a statement that “significant changes” over the last decade have pushed ELNs from initial applications in medicinal and process chemistry to other domains such as biology, analytical chemistry, and quality assurance.
“Although ELNs started out with a generic design, this has now given way to more specific ELNs featuring tools such as search reaction databases, chemical synthesis planning, and integrated chemical inventory,” the company said. “This has helped change the perception of ELNs from management tools providing a secure storehouse, as it were, for document research to tools that can be used for scientific advancement.”
Tripos Receives Notice of Nasdaq Delisting Determination
The Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Department has determined that Tripos' common stock will be delisted from the Nasdaq Global Market effective Friday, July 6.
The Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Department had previously determined that the company was not in compliance with the shareholders' equity and market capitalization requirements for continued listing [BioInform 06-22-07].
Furthermore, following the recent sale of Tripos' Discovery research sales and services Business, Tripos is deemed to be a "public shell" and therefore not eligible for continued listing on the Nasdaq Global Market.
Tripos has been advised that bid/ask quotations for its common stock will be made on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board following the withdrawal of its securities from the Nasdaq Global Market.
In addition, Tripos' common stock will continue to be eligible for quotation on the Pink Sheets.