<This is yet another foray into the biotech and pharmaceutical arena by IBM's Life Sciences division.>
While on the subject of BT and informatics, this morning comment from GS may be of interest:
* <The New Year has started with another agreement between an IT/computing
company and a biotech company. This continues a trend which we
highlighted last year. IBM has signed a collaborative agreement with the
Accelrys subsidiary of US biotech company Pharmacopeia. This will
combine Accelrys' drug discovery software with IBM's eServer systems and
will be aimed at drug discovery companies in an attempt to shorten
their product development cycles. We view this as a trend that is likely
to continue and one which, ultimately, may lead to consolidation.
* The collaboration is aiming to accelerate the roll-out of the Accelrys
Discovery Studio platform, an IT solution that encompasses the whole
drug discovery process. This will allow capture and access to scientific
information generated from diverse sources from a common platform.
These sources could be either from within the pharma or biotech company
or from outside sources. Accelrys will also combine IBM's DiscoveryLink
data integration technology into the new Discovery Studio platform. The
new platform will be marketed by both companies and consulting services
will also be offered in attempt to leverage the business opportunity.
* This is yet another foray into the biotech and pharmaceutical arena by
IBM's Life Sciences division. We believe that the collaborations being
forged between IT/computing companies and biotech companies are just the
tip of the iceberg. In our view, in the longer term, biotech and many
pharmaceutical companies will require specialist help in data
management, access and intelligent analysis. Through time, with the
convergence of biotech and IT, we believe this could even lead to
consolidation between these apparently diverse industries.>
Two questions: Does this represent a new vector, or an increase of magnitude, in the processing capability/power brought to bear to drug discovery technology, or is Big Blue playing stodgy catch-up? And second, does any of the experts on the thread credit the notion in the last sentence of the blurb?
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