Genedata To Provide Toxicogenomic Analysis for EU's Innomed Consortium
Genedata said this week that it has joined the Innovative Medicines for Europe (InnoMed) consortium, a project funded by the European Commission's Sixth Framework program with the goal of improving drug safety.
The consortium of 14 pharmaceutical companies and three academic institutions has been awarded €11.5 million ($14.5 million) in FP6 funding over three years. Participants include Altana, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Ciphergen, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, Merck KG, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Organon, Roche, Schering, Sanofi-Aventis, Serono, Servier, and the Universities of Dublin, Hacettepe, and W rzburg.
Genedata will participate in one arm of the consortium, which plans to characterize 16 proprietary compounds that were dropped from development after they failed conventional toxicology tests. The company will use its software and databases to analyze data from Affymetrix GeneChips, 2D gels, and mass spectrometry experiments.
"There really isn't too much of a precedent for using high-throughput molecular data to study toxicity," Tobe Freeman, public relations manager for Genedata, told BioInform. "This is something that actually has to be developed beyond its current state."
Agilent to Integrate Nonlinear Dynamics Software with 2100 Bioanalyzer
Nonlinear Dynamics said this week that it has signed a software integration agreement with Agilent Technologies.
Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will automate the export of electropherogram data from the Expert software used with Agilent's 2100 Bioanalyzer system for analysis with Nonlinear's TotalLab TL120 DM 1D gel analysis software.
This integration will enable researchers to import DNA, RNA and protein sample data from the 2100 Bioanalyzer for further relationship comparison, archiving and data mining within TL120 DM, Nonlinear said.
Molecular Connections to Provide Literature Curation for Connexios
Molecular Connections said this week that it will provide scientific literature mining for Connexios, a drug-discovery firm based in Bangalore, India.
As a part of the agreement, Molecular Connections said it will take over the existing literature-mining team at Connexios in order to create customized pathway information for the company.
The agreement will allow Connexios "to focus on its vision of being a discovery led life-sciences company," Molecular Connections said.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
SGI Says It's 'Business as Usual' Despite Filing for Chapter 11
Silicon Graphics this week filed for bankruptcy protection under chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy code, but tried to assure customers that they would not be affected by the company's financial difficulties.
"It is business as usual," the company said in a statement on its website. SGI has received a commitment for a $70 million financing facility, "which together with cash generated from operations, will fund our going forward operating expenses including post-petition supplier obligations and employee salaries and benefits," the company said.
The firm said it expects to emerge from chapter 11 reorganization within the next six months.
"During this process, our customers will continue to receive the world-class service and support that they have come to expect from SGI. We will continue to meet our customer's needs for quality products and services and remain committed to developing innovative new products and technologies."
China's WuXi PharmaTech to Use Thermo's Watson LIMS
Thermo Electron said this week that WuXi PharmaTech, a pharmaceutical R&D services firm based in Shanghai, China, will use its Watson LIMS.
"This agreement to deploy Watson LIMS catapults our bioanalytical service group to the globally accepted quality level," said Ge Li, CEO of WuXi PharmaTech, in a statement.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
ACD/Labs Joins MDL Isentris Alliance
Advanced Chemistry Development said this week that it has joined the MDL Isentris Alliance, a consortium led by Elsevier MDL to develop integrated R&D workflows based on the MDL Isentris platform.
Initial integration between ACD/Labs and Elsevier MDL will focus on ACD/Name software and the Isentris-based MDL Draw chemical representation tool and MDL Notebook application.