GENE LOGIC and SmithKline Beecham Enter Bioinformatics Collaboration
GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 1998--GENE LOGIC INC. (Nasdaq: GLGC - news) today announced that SmithKline Beecham (SB) has licensed GENE LOGIC's Object Protocol Model (OPM)-based bioinformatics system and software tools. GENE LOGIC and SB will also collaborate to use OPM to develop a series of customized databases and servers to integrate a wide range of public and proprietary genomic and biological data sources into SB's data mining process. GENE LOGIC retains the right to license software and products developed under the collaborative program to third party customers. Under the agreement, GENE LOGIC will receive software license fees and funding for its portion of the collaborative development program. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
''This relationship with SB is a validation of the power of the OPM system to manage and integrate large volumes of genomic and biological data from disparate sources into a seamless data mining process,'' said Michael J. Brennan, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of GENE LOGIC. ''SB has been prescient in making one of the most substantial investments in bioinformatics in the industry and has extremely sophisticated requirements. Bioinformatics is a new and growing business opportunity for us. We are proud that this group has chosen our Bioinformatics Systems Division for this important project.''
GENE LOGIC combines powerful genomics technologies and bioinformatics expertise to accelerate the discovery and development of new drugs. The Company provides its pharmaceutical company partners with products designed to reduce the time, cost and risk associated with drug discovery and development. These include proprietary genomic databases of gene expression for new drug target discovery and development, a novel screening technology for identifying new drug leads, and a comprehensive bioinformatics system for analyzing, managing and integrating biological information into the drug discovery process. GENE LOGIC's bioinformatics system was developed using scientific data management tools based on the Object-Protocol Model (''OPM'') developed by Dr. Victor Markowitz and his team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. These tools enable the rapid development of relational databases, the integration of relational and flat file databases and the building of cross-database query systems. GENE LOGIC's system works through powerful, customized and configurable Web interfaces, regardless of the structure of the underlying databases and without having to redevelop each database. In addition to SB, GENE LOGIC has established major strategic alliances with N.V. Organon, a pharmaceutical business unit of Akzo Nobel, Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Japan Tobacco Inc.
This press release contains forward-looking statements which involve technical and competitive uncertainties that exist in the Company's business. Such statements reflect management's current views of future events, and actual results may differ materially from those described in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's new and developing technologies, successful achievement of research and development objectives by the Company and its strategic partners, the Company's ability to manage multiple, concurrent strategic alliances and reliance on strategic partners for development and commercialization of products, if any, resulting from any discovery programs. These factors and others are more fully described in the Company's Report on Form 10-K dated March 30, 1998, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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