Brains + Biz--The Post: "Harvard Buys Access To Celera Gene Databases"
washingtonpost.com
>>>By Dana Hedgpeth
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday , July 14, 2000 ; E03
Rockville-based Celera Genomics Corp. said yesterday that it has signed on Harvard University as a customer for its genetic databases.
Harvard agreed to pay an undisclosed amount for a multi-year subscription to access what Celera calls its "Discovery System." It includes access via a World Wide Web interface to four databases developed by Celera. Celera's databases contain the complete sequence of the human genome, links to biological and disease information and tools to analyze the data, plus the genomes of two important research organisms, the fruit fly and the mouse. The mouse genome is expected to be available later this year.
The contract was the second major academic deal announced by Celera, one with the cachet of one of the best-known research universities in the world. Officials with the company said Harvard's choice of Celera is an indication that the company's work is commercially viable as well as groundbreaking science.
J. Craig Venter, Celera's president and chief scientific officer, said in a statement that the deal gives Harvard "unique access to the database information and includes the necessary tools and software to view, browse and analyze this genetic data, hopefully leading to new discoveries and breakthroughs in medicine."
Celera's business plan, about which there has been some skepticism on Wall Street, is to make itself an indispensable source of data and analysis for genetic researchers around the world. The company has said it wants to make some raw data about the human genome freely available, leaving investors questioning whether it can make money with its value-added services.
Celera executives have said their plan can attract scientists to the company's more elaborate paid offerings. Celera has already signed up five large pharmaceutical companies to use its databases, for fees as high as $15 million a year. Last month, the Australian Parliament said it will pay for the use of Celera's databases by its academic and nonprofit research institutions. Celera cut a five-year deal with another academic institution, Vanderbilt University, in May.
Peter Barrett, executive vice president and chief business officer at Celera, said since the company announced Vanderbilt was signing up for the databases there has been much interest among academic institutions both in and outside of the United States. He also said Venter had given several talks at Harvard on his company's work mapping the human genome and had established contacts there.
Harvard's interest "is further validation of the value of the products we have not just for pharmaceutical companies but for life science researchers," Barrett said. "We believe that this is a resource that any institution involved in medical research will want to have access to. Our goal is to get as many of those institutions active as subscribers as is feasible."
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