Bayer expands its high-tech platform for life-science research to include unique information technology

Innovative software system enables faster and more efficient active substance discovery

16-Oct-2000

Leverkusen – Bayer and the bio-IT company LION Bioscience AG, Heidelberg, have concluded a further agreement for the acceleration of active substance discovery in life-science research. In the period through 2003, LION will expand the life-science informatics platform established between the two companies last year to include the field of pharmacophore informatics. This expansion should enable Bayer to identify significantly more quickly and efficiently chemical compounds that have a physiological effect in the organism and therefore serve as potential candidates for innovative active substances.

"This new cooperation with LION ideally complements the high-tech platform we have assembled so far," said Dr. Pol Bamelis, Chairman of Bayer's Board Committee for Research and Development. "We will be able to optimize our research and development processes by basing our life-science R&D activities on an integrated IT system from a single source. This will make it possible for us to better serve the interests of patients and consumers in more quickly bringing to market new active substances for the life-science fields of pharmaceuticals and crop protection."

"The integration of pharmacophore informatics into our knowledge management solution is a further milestone in the development of the i-biology platform which will cover the entire research and development process in the area of life sciences," commented LION CEO Dr. Friedrich von Bohlen. "Rapidly increasing data volumes worldwide in fields such as genome research will fuel the demand for comprehensive and integrated solutions. The management of increasingly complex processes and data will create added value in the future. Bayer recognized this at an early stage, and it is our goal to create added value for Bayer and for LION by expanding our i-biology™ concept. The demand for integrated solutions of this kind will increase as pharmaceutical and life-science companies like Bayer aim to optimize the active substances they discover in increasingly rapid cycles using automated high-throughput technologies."

"With this innovative software, which is closely interlinked with the field of genomics, we will in future be able to more quickly and efficiently identify chemical compounds that can influence the course of diseases or be effectively used in crop protection. In this way, we will be able to narrow the search for active substances – such as those necessary for the production of pharmaceuticals or crop protection products – from millions of test substances to just a few candidates. With a great degree of probability, we will then be able to successfully develop these into a commercial product. This accelerates the process, reduces failure rates and ultimately leads to significant cost-savings," said Professor Wolfgang Hartwig, head of Bayer's worldwide pharmaceutical research activities and Chairman of the company's Life Science Research Committee.

In recent years, Bayer has signed international cooperation and licensing agreements worth a total of up to DM 2 billion – depending on their productivity – to assemble a high-tech research platform. This includes the US$ 100 mi

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