597Role of Biotechnology Companies
Most of the biotechnology companies profi led in part II of this report are involved in
pharmacogenomics, pharmacogenetics, pharmacoproteomics and molecular diag-
nostics. Smaller biotechnology companies that may invent or develop technologies
for advancing personalized medicine depend on collaborations with major pharma-
ceutical companies. Some of these companies are already on the way to become
pharmaceutical companies. Apart from academic collaborations, many of these
companies have alliances with other biotechnology companies as well as with phar-
maceutical companies. Some of the companies are now dedicated as personalized
medicine companies whereas others continue to categorize themselves in the basic
technologies for personalized medicine. All of them play a role in the development
of personalized medicine, which is not the exclusive domain of any one company.
Role of Life Sciences Industries
In 2006, life science industry leaders formed a BioIT Alliance ( http://bioitalliance.
org/ ). The founding members including Accelrys Software, Affymetrix, Amylin
Pharmaceuticals, Life Technologies and The Scripps Research Institute, which
share a common goal of creating a stronger link between technology and science.
The alliance unites the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, hardware and software
industries to explore new ways to share complex biomedical data and collaborate
among multidisciplinary teams to ultimately speed the pace of drug discovery and
development. By bringing together people from innovative life sciences organiza-
tions that span the biomedical industry, the BioIT Alliance will play an important
role in the development of solutions that transform today’s data into knowledge and
improve the quality of millions of lives. Life science companies have unique techni-
cal challenges such as the need for more comprehensive data integration solutions,
better technical collaboration and stronger knowledge management capabilities.
The BioIT Alliance brings together science and technology leaders to consider
innovative ways to address these challenges and use technology to reduce costs,
streamline research and market their products more effectively. Founding members
of the alliance have already begun to collaborate on solutions that target common
technology problems faced by life science companies.
The fi rst of these solutions is the Collaborative Molecular Environment,
which will provide a means for data capture, visualization, annotation and archiving
using Microsoft® Offi ce, Windows® Presentation Foundation and SharePoint®
Technologies. Microsoft is partnering with alliance member company InterKnowlogy
LLC on the project, which is being tested by several other alliance members. In
addition to making data easier to manage, early efforts of the alliance are focused on
making data easier to share. Two member companies working on this are Affymetrix
and Life Technologies. The BioIT Alliance will also provide independent software
Role of Life Sciences Industries