fluff, but it might be a good report.... Alan Williamson was a guest member on my thesis committee while doing a sabbatical at UCLA. One of the brightest people I've ever met, and personable too. Held heady slots at BGEN and MRK, among others.......
Monday October 4, 10:01 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Many New Tools Available for SNP Genotyping
NEWTON UPPER FALLS, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 4, 1999--The buzz about
single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has been steadily increasing over the last couple of
years, and it may finally be possible to determine just how fruitful this arm of genomic
research can be. More than 20 new tools and services are either at, or rapidly approaching,
the market for SNP detection and identification. Once the leaders in this pack are
determined, a whole new era in SNP studies will begin using much larger scale approaches.
Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI)'s new report ''Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms: Commercial and Scientific Prospects''
details these new and emerging SNP genotyping technologies as well as the many critical issues surrounding the application of
SNPs to drug discovery, pharmacogenomics, and other arenas. ''The pharmaceutical industry has never before seen such
explosive response in terms of tools developed to meet a particular need,'' says Phillips Kuhl, President of CHI and Executive
Editor of the company's new Genomic Pathways Reports series.
SNPs offer what appears to be a tantalizingly simple way to sort subsets of populations in medically interesting ways, such as
according to positive or negative responses to a drug. As a result, many believe these tiny (single base pair) genetic variations
will be pivotal in the coming pharmacogenomic revolution, which offers the hope of patient-tailored therapies.
But finding useful SNPs, and then applying them, is extremely complex, and involves many critical questions related to tools,
study design, and statistical issues. Companies such as Celera (NYSE:CRA - news), CuraGen (NASDAQ:CRGN - news),
Genset (NASDAQ:GENXY - news), Incyte (NASDQ:INCY), Millennium (NASDAQ:MLNM - news), and Variagenics
have pioneered SNP discovery, and some fear these front-runners may already have secured many of the most valuable SNPs.
Others believe large numbers of medically-useful SNPs remain to be tapped. Wherever they stand on this particular issue,
pharmaceutical giants such as Abbott (NYSE:ABT - news), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY - news), Glaxo Wellcome
(NYSE:GLX - news), Hoffmann-La Roche, Millennium (NASDAQ:MLNM - news), and SmithKline Beecham (NYSE:SBH
- news) are already seeking to apply SNPs to pharmacogenomics, functional genomics, and other studies.
The ten Editorial Advisory Board members for this report include Claire Allan from Glaxo Wellcome, Colin Dykes of
Variagenics, Nicholas Schork from Genset, consultant Alan Williamson, and David Wang of Bristol-Myers Squibb. These
experts and others provide insight, information, and opinions on how SNPs can best be exploited. The report also discusses the
SNP-related activities of over 60 companies, and provides detailed profiles of 27 of these.
''Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms: Commercial and Scientific Prospects,'' is the second publication in CHI's new Genomic
Pathways Reports series, which supplies complete and in-depth coverage of this complex and dynamic field. The first report,
''Proteomics: A Key Enabling Tool for Genomics,'' was released in April 1999. Upcoming reports will cover the impact of
genomics on cancer diagnosis and treatment, bioinformatics, biochips and microarrays, gene expression analysis, and functional
genomics. Call Vernette Roach at (617) 630-1338 or visit the CHI Publications website, www.genomicreports.com, for
pricing and ordering information.
Contact:
Cambridge Healthtech Institute
Vernette Roach, (617) 630-1338
or
Aya Yamamura, (617) 630-1320
www.genomicreports.com |
