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Biotech / Medical : Biotech Valuation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: keokalani'nui who wrote (1686)	9/18/2000 1:23:00 PM
From: Pseudo Biologist	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52153

Wilder, on According to Barton, this ruling means that it will be possible to get a patent on an abstract procedure or an algorithm. And it will impact biotechnology. For instance, he continued, "We will quickly see patents on computational methods for calculating protein folding." According to Barton, "This case is saying that it's a lot harder to draw the line between the discovery of a scientific principle and the development of a patentable invention." People are trying this already (I mean patenting - looking for the algorithms has gone on for at least 25 years now): This deals with a potentially important "subproblem" in protein folding: patents.ibm.com This goes further (the method really does not work but what the heck): patents.ibm.com Another one that does not work: patents.ibm.com This is for going to sequence from 3D structure (backwards but useful - this one actually does work to some extent): patents.ibm.com An attempt from the mid 70's (of course, it does not work) ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Last, thanks for pointing us to the article, very interesting. PB

To: keokalani'nui who wrote (1686)	9/18/2000 1:32:34 PM
From: scaram(o)uche	Respond to of 52153

Many companies are working on protein folding. Biotechs like Compugen, if you like, or a big commitment at IBM. Sun Microsytems has a big bioinformatics group, and I'll bet they aren't letting IBM run along unattended.

To: keokalani'nui who wrote (1686)	9/18/2000 1:35:31 PM
From: Biomaven	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52153

wilder, I believe he's referring to one of the holy grails of computational chemistry - input the protein formula and get out the shape. IBM, amongst others is pursuing this. They are using a descendant of the late and lamented Deep Blue, of chess fame. Historically (and fortunately) pure algorithms have not been patentable. The extension of patent protection to programs is very unfortunate to my mind, particularly when you see the obvious programs that have been awarded patents. I haven't actually seen much activity by people trying to enforce software patents. (Perhaps fortunately - e.g., BT (I think) claims to have a patent on the hyperlink). Bioinformatics is certainly going to be an important field. I can easily see the mixed software/biotech technologies (like RSTA) being patentable. I'm less sure of pure software. A good example might be a program that effectively picks out genes from the genome. (Somewhat crude versions of this exist already). Peter P.S. to get emphasis you put in HTML like this: < i >italics< / i > < b >bold< / b > without the spaces. P.P.S. Careful about the lawyer cracks - Vector1 is a lawyer, and I practiced law for a while too. <g> Some other good lawyer/biotech investors on SI as well - IJ Frankel and RCMac, for example.

To: keokalani'nui who wrote (1686)	9/20/2000 8:48:06 AM
From: scaram(o)uche	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52153

Wilder..... I mentioned Compugen, but here's another to watch...... Structural GenomiX Completes $45 Million Private Placement SAN DIEGO, Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Structural GenomiX (SGX), a high-throughput protein structure determination company, has completed a $45 million round of private equity financing. BA Venture Partners led the round, with additional investments from Amerindo, MDS Health Ventures, Orbimed Advisors, and Vector Fund Management. All of SGX's existing investors participated in the round, including Atlas Ventures, Apple Tree Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, The Sprout Group, Index Ventures, and Vulcan Northwest. SG Cowen served as placement agent. Structural GenomiX integrates advances in genomics, bioinformatics and X-ray crystallography into a high-throughput structure determination platform that provides protein structures to pharmaceutical companies for use in drug discovery and design. "This round of financing received a tremendous amount of interest from investors in North America and Europe," commented SGX President and CEO Tim Harris, Ph.D. "The investment community clearly has caught on to the importance of structural genomics and to SGX's ability to capitalize on the opportunity. We don't plan to let them down." Lou Bock, Managing Director at BA Venture Partners, said, "This organization demonstrates clear leadership in what is emerging as a cutting edge area of post-genomics research. We are very impressed with the complementary business and scientific skills of the SGX management team and their ability to implement a broad and integrated technology platform. We are happy to be able to participate in their growth." "This round of financing puts the company in excellent position to build a dominant technology platform for the industrialization of protein crystallization and the elucidation of protein structure for improved design of drugs and vaccines," said George Poste, D.V.M., Ph.D., SGX Chairman and former CSO/CTO of SmithKlineBeecham. "With these funds, SGX will continue to develop an integrated platform that will support the structure-based drug design of its customers." SGX uses high-throughput X-ray crystallography to transform DNA sequence into three-dimensional protein structures whose shapes and charges reveal important functional information that researchers can use to develop drugs and compounds. The structures that SGX generates will impact target validation, rational drug design, pesticide discovery, and industrial catalysis through a value-added database and customized structural solutions. SGX currently employs 60 people at its facility in San Diego, CA. For more information, please see SGX's website at stromix.com. Contact: Sarah Dry, Communications Coordinator of Structural GenomiX, 858-558-4850, ext. 131; or Anne Sunderland of Noonan/Russo Communications, 415-677-4455, ext. 214, for Structural GenomiX. SOURCE Structural GenomiX Inc. Web Site: stromix.com