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02.10.2006 - Current BioData announces development of the Targeted Proteins database – a major new resource for pharmaceutical industry R&D

Geneva, Switzerland – October 2nd  2006.  Current BioData Ltd, a joint venture between Geneva Bioinformatics (GeneBio) SA and the Science Navigation Group, today announced the forthcoming release of the Targeted Proteins database (“TPdb”), a major new resource designed to meet the needs of scientists and others involved in drug discovery, research and development. A pre-release version of the database will be demonstrated publicly for the first time this week at the R&D Leaders Forum Autumn 2006 Meeting in Berlin, Germany.

Built in co-operation with the founders of Swiss-Prot, the world’s leading source of annotated information on proteins, the Targeted Proteins database focuses on a carefully selected number of protein systems that are of most interest to prospective clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

“Drug researchers have told us that, with the explosion in the amount of data published on protein systems in the past few years, it has become increasingly difficult for them to identify and act on the information that’s really crucial from the drug industry’s perspective” said Ian Tarr, CEO of Current BioData. “There is a clear need to collect, analyse and critically evaluate this mass of information so that it can than be used in a way that enhances R&D efficiency, as opposed to positively hindering it, as is often the case today” he added.

To fulfil this need, the Targeted Proteins database identifies proteins or protein systems that are heavily implicated in disease and provides ‘target assessments’ that represent the state-of-the-art concerning that system from a drug researcher’s perspective. “It’s a very editorially intensive process, so we’ve been creating international ‘virtual faculties’ of experts in each of the targeted fields that we’re covering. The pharmaceutical industry expects high quality, high value information, so it’s important that we use the best people to provide the commentary and analysis” Tarr stated.

Nobel laureate, Professor Aaron Ciechanover, one of the ‘virtual faculty’ members advising Current BioData, concurred: “I believe the novel approach being taken by the TPdb will help bring disparate research communities together, both academic and corporate, to ultimately improve understanding of basic mechanisms and consequently of pathogenesis of diseases with the aim of supporting rapid development of new therapies”, he explained.

Commentating on the pharmaceutical industry’s need for timely information in a highly competitive research environment, Tarr noted that TPdb will be updated daily. “We will be using a range of advanced information harvesting, text mining and analysis techniques to gather relevant data”, he said, “but techniques such as text mining are in themselves not enough. - we then have to evaluate the results in conjunction with external experts so that we can deliver opinions and conclusions, not just data, to our clients.. The facilities we’re building to do this will allow our clients to act on the results quickly and efficiently”, he added.

About Current BioData Ltd
By combining the unique internal expertise of the founders of Swiss-Prot and the Investigational Drugs database (IDdb) in data collection, validation and evaluation, with the external expertise of an extensive network of global opinion leaders and subject specialists, Current BioData is developing products and services designed to assess the impact of new protein research on drug R&D. Established as teams of experts in “Virtual Faculties”, leading researchers in the field comment on newly published or presented data, providing intelligence on known and emerging targetable protein systems via a daily updated service, the Targeted Proteins database (TPdb). Current BioData also fosters the publication of original research on proteins and protein systems through the CBD Research Journals, a series of open-access, peer-reviewed journals published in association with sister company, BioMedCentral, also a member of the Science Navigation Group.  For more information about Current BioData, please visit www.currentbiodata.com

About the Science Navigation Group
The Science Navigation Group is a group of independent companies that collaborate closely with each other to publish and develop information and services for the professional biomedical community and for the consumer market. Science Navigation Group products run the gamut from books and journals to websites, databases, maps and audiovisuals, and cater to clients as various as physicians, scientists, pharmaceutical companies, patients, students and the general public. The Group has its head office in London (UK), with additional offices in Philadelphia, Hoboken, Geneva and Tel Aviv. For more information about Science Navigation Group, please visit www.sciencenavigation.com

About Geneva Bioinformatics SA
Geneva Bioinformatics (GeneBio) SA is a leading bioinformatics company providing the life science community with world-class proteomics software that bridges the gap between information gathering and knowledge generation. Established in 1997, we focus our expertise on protein identification and characterization as well as proteome imaging, offering clients and partners a high degree of specialization essential to proteomics research. Close ties to academic peers and a thorough network of distribution and strategic partners give us both unfettered access to scientific excellence and recognized market presence so that we may best serve the scientific community. For more information about GeneBio, please visit: www.genebio.com

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