Trace tools: Nonlinear Dynamics developing new software tools

STORY UPDATE

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, U.K.—April 2, 2007—At the upcoming ABRF meeting in Tampa, Fla, bioinformatics solutions provider Nonlinear Dynamics will launch a new strategy to enable the use of multiple proteomics techniques. The tools are an extension of the company's Progenesis portfolio and include Progenesis SameSpots Version 2.0 for 2-D gel analysis, Progenesis LC-MS analysis software, and Progenesis Stats, a multivariate statistical package.

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, England—Bioinformatics company Nonlinear Dynamics Ltd. announced in April the start of a large-scale internal development program that will see the launch of three separate software products for the analysis of mass spectrometry and capillary electrophoresis trace data.

The first product, scheduled for release in the third business quarter this year, will be for entry-level trace data analysis and visualization and is aimed primarily at the academic market. Following this will be a biomarker analysis tool set for release at the end of the year and a second, more robust biomarker product with an as yet unspecified release date in 2006.

According to Nonlinear's management, the opportunity here lies in developing a tool that will allow researchers to cull and compare data from multiple analysis techniques. "It will bring together everything from liquid chromatography to gas chromatography to HPLC, mass spec, electrophoresis," says Sam Neill, business development analyst with Nonlinear. "This will be attractive to academics. Then as we get into the biomarker products, especially the second one set for release next year, it may be that pharmaceutical companies and larger organizations may want to upgrade to this sophisticated product."

John Spreadbury, CEO of Nonlinear USA Inc., says these products come to the drug discovery market at a crucial time and initially will have very little competition. "From our point of view, a lot of techniques are failing and a lot of drugs are failing because we are looking at everything in isolation," he says. "We need to try to bring some of these data streams together and now, I believe, is the right time."

The trace data product is currently placed at test sites. It is a product that will work in a desktop environment as a medium-throughput tool, which makes it a prime candidate for the academic market. "As leaders in the 2D proteomics field, we want to give our customers better tools to work with in identification of proteins," Spreadbury says. "Linking techniques together, such as mass spec and 2D gel, to run in tandem is important. To do that, we need new tools. We already have a mass spec tool and this is taking it one step further."

Pricing for the new tools is not yet set, but potential users should expect the tab to be very competitive. "We've discussed price with around 20 potential users, to get a good feel for the market and what they are prepared to pay," Spreadbury says. "That information is still being collated, but since we are looking to sell this product in volume, pricing is crucial."