COLUMBIA, Md.--Gene Logic here has signed an agreement granting three years of access to its Gene Express Normal database of gene expression profiles to NV Organon, a pharmaceutical business unit of Akzo Nobel. As part of the collaboration, Gene Logic will also build a gene expression database for drug target discovery specific to certain of Organon's research programs. Gene Express includes a variety of human, rat, and mouse tissues, and a proprietary bioinformatics system to analyze and integrate the information.
The agreement gives Gene Logic annual research funding, database license fees, milestone payments, and royalties on product sales, plus rights to diagnostics and certain categories of therapeutics. Organon can develop and commercialize any drugs that result from the partnership. Research will be directed toward drugs for use against gynecological, psychiatric, and cardiovascular diseases, among others, according to Driek Vergouwen, Organon's managing director of research and development. "The alliance allows Organon to strengthen its drug discovery pipeline and leverage its investments in combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening," remarked Michael Brennan, Gene Logic's president and CEO.