PARIS—Aureus Pharma, a provider of knowledgemanagement solutions to accelerate discovery in the life sciences industry, hasannounced its participation in the Biointelligence research and developmentprogram, a $160 million project designed to promote the use of systemicmodeling and simulation tools to exploit biomedical databases to improveresearch efficiency. Aureus expects to receive financial aids totaling approximately$4.7 million, but further financial details are not being made public.
The BioIntelligence program will be coordinated byDassault Systèmes, and involve leading life science industry players such assanofi-aventis, Ipsen, Servier, Pierre Fabre and Bayer Cropscience, as well aspublic research institutes like Inserm, Inria and Genopole, and small- tomedium-sized enterprises specialized in bioinformatics such as Aureus andSobios.
BioIntelligence will promote the use of systemicmodeling and simulation tools to exploit biomedical databases. This approach,based on the product lifecycle management method, already used by manufacturingindustries, is expected to enable life science industries to optimize theresearch phases of drug development.
Aureus will participate in the development of the knowledgemanagement layer of the planned system and build new innovative content intherapeutic areas like oncology, as well as in the area of nuclear receptors,proteases inhibitors and life science semantics. In addition to providing significantfunding, this program will also enable Aureus to evolve its data models tointegrate more complex drug and drug candidate properties, biological protocolsor regulation of physiological responses.
"We are excited at the opportunity working withsuch prestigious partners in the Biointelligence consortium," says Dr. JasonTheodosiou, president and CEO of Aureus Pharma. "This program confirms the keycontribution of Aureus' know-how in the development of knowledge-driveninformation systems in the life science industry. Aureus brings its long-termexperience in organizing and structuring scientific data into knowledge. Thisprogram will provide Aureus further resources and insight on scientists'specific needs and sustain the development of new innovative products tocontinue serving our market."
Aureus Pharma, provides a range of scientificknowledge solutions enabling biopharmaceutical companies to better understandthe relationships of biological targets to compounds under evaluation. Aureusexperts continuously monitor and organize the most relevant information fromthe scientific literature, including experimental in vitro and in vivoprotocols. This detailed knowledge forms the AurSCOPE database line, focusingon the human body's main therapeutic targets: GPCRs, Kinases, Ion Channels,Proteases and Nuclear Receptors. Additional AurSCOPE databases relate tosafety, toxicology, and pharmacokinetics (ADME, hERG). Consolidating all thetherapeutic targets, the AurSCOPE Global Pharmacology Space (GPS) provides researcherswith the most comprehensive available coverage of the "druggable" genome. Applicationsinclude AurQUEST, the web-based query tool, DDI Predict for drug-drug interactions,and AurPROFILER, the compound profiling visualization tool.
