NEW YORK, Oct. 15 – NetGenics has completed the second phase of its DiscoveryCenter database build-out for Schering and its US subsidiary Berlex Laboratories, the company said on Monday.
The three-part implementation, scheduled to close around February 2002, provides a single point of access to curated and annotated gene-sequence and -expression data for Schering’s R&D scientists, according to NetGenics CEO Manual Glynias.
The multiyear deal, which NetGenics won last June, is a “multimillion dollar” contract and includes a yearly licensing and maintenance fee beyond the completion of the project, Glynias told GenomeWeb .
The system built for Berlin-based Schering includes technology from NetGenics’ Component Library and IBM's DiscoveryLink, which NetGenics is authorized to distribute as part of an agreement made with the computer giant in April.
While parts of the custom-built system are proprietary to Schering, the core can be sold to other companies, said Glynias, who sees the product as “the next step beyond Lion’s SRS.”
In addition to providing upgrades to its DiscoveryCenter, NetGenics is looking to develop a product to integrate gene-expression data with chemo-informatics data, said Glynias, who said that such a product would need to follow the DiscoveryCenter-Schering development model.
“To succeed in a chemo-informatics phase, we need to do the exact same thing: looking for a partner in chemo-informatics and a client, either big pharma or a biotech company,” he explained.
In September, NetGenics, based in Cleveland, withdrew its proposed $60 million to $70 million initial public offering. Glynias said the company would wait for the market to improve before considering another IPO.