Mergers Acquisitions Consolidation-Microarray Industry bubble in making- The days are numbered

Bioinformatics promise has already had its brush with plenty of resistance, not it seems the time for microarray industry with consolidation and acqusitions and megers announced almost every week. The slow adoption and too many fragmented with disparate standards has made the industry a victim of its own success.

the new kid on the block to unload its microarray and genomics business include Nanogen with its plans to unload its loss making microarray business, While the most of the biotech IPO featured in the market in the last 6 month in US have failed to generate expected results.

But pharmaceutical firms are racing to buy up biotech firms Roche has acquired 454 Life science,and Nimblegen and now Bristol-Myers Squibb is buying Adnexus Therapeutics for $430 million. Wyeth has bought Haptogen Ltd, which emerged from Aberdeen University five years ago, pharmaceutical firm Wyeth is the fourth largest biotechnology company in the world. PerkinElmer is planning to buy the cord blood banking firm Viacell Inc

On the the report of Bradstreet Israel warning on Sunday that majority of Israel’s publicly-traded biotechnology companies will be forced to halt their research and development activities in as little as two-and-a-half years if they do not alter their business strategies immediately, research company Dun & In many cases, biotech companies are not doing sales, but only conducting research programs,” said Reuven Kuvent, director-general of D&B Israel. “They don’t focus enough on raising capital or attracting investor things they must do if they intend to continue to be operational over the next few years.”

While Asian genomics and biotech companies like Biocon which recently sold its enzu=yem business to NovoZyme and Strand Genomics which was selected as TECHNOLOGY PIONEERS 2007 by World Ecconomic Forum and smaller startups like Ocimum Biosolutions which are now pumping vast amount of funds into acquiring genomics business across US and Europe are waiting inthe wings to take off . Still there are others racing to create the cheapest microarray and sequencing methods only time will tell theeir fate,

UK is appealing for volunteers to help worlds biggest medical experiment project- to understand impact of Genetics and life style in illness and medical treatment

 UK is appealing for volunteers to help worlds biggest medical experiment project- to understand impact of Genetics and lifestyle in health and medical treatment

The  BBC reports about a medical experiment aiming to be the biggest in the world is appealing for volunteers to help end Scotland’s reputation as the “sick man of Europe”.

The project named as  UK Biobank will be the world’s biggest resource for the study of the role of nature and nurture in health and disease.

Funded and guided under the supervision of leading scientists from the UK and around the world. Funded by the  Wellcome Trust, the UK’s largest independent medical research charity, the  Medical Research Council, the Department of Health, the Scottish Executive and the Northwest Regional Development Agency. and many other major medical research charities, including the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK. The project is also supported by the National Health Service.

claiming to help not just the volunteer, but for the future generation to come the £61m UK Biobank project will track the health of thousands of people for up to 30 years.

Information and DNA gathered from volunteers will be used by researchers to help tackle serious diseases.

Volunteers will be asked to attend an assessment centre where they will fill out a lifestyle questionnaire, have body measurements such as bone density, blood pressure, height and weight recorded, and donate a small sample of blood and urine for long-term storage as a resource for researchers in the future.

Researchers will study the relationship between our genes, our lifestyles and our current health to find out why some people develop certain illnesses and others do not.

It is hoped the project will eventually include 500,000 volunteers from across Britain, making it the biggest study of its type ever undertaken.

The Biobank will run alongside the complementary Generation Scotland project, which focuses on how genes inherited from our parents affect the likelihood of developing diseases.

Data collected by the two projects will be used to help prevent and develop new treatments for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, mental health illnesses, osteoporosis and arthritis.

Online Microarray tools

Open source was always the favourite with scientists, Now with companies liek Google and IBM pushing the concept of software as a service educational institutions and non profit organisation alike can offer there efficiencies and expertise to scores of scientists cost effectively

for a start take a look at the online microarray analysis tool offered at European Bioinformatics Institute

http://www.embl-ebi.ac.uk/expressionprofiler/

Scientists find Extraterrestrial genes in Human DNA

A group of researchers working at the Human Genome Project indicate that they made an astonishing scientific discovery: They believe so-called 97% non-coding sequences in human DNA is no less than genetic code of extraterrestrial life forms.

The non-coding sequences are common to all living organisms on Earth, from moulds to fish to humans. In human DNA, they constitute larger part of the total genome, says Prof. Sam Chang, the group leader. Non-coding sequences, originally known as “junk DNA”, were discovered years ago, and their function remained a mystery. The overwhelming majority of Human DNA is “Off-world” in origin. The apparent “extraterrestrial junk genes” merely “enjoy the ride” with hard working active genes, passed from generation to generation.

After comprehensive analysis with the assistance of other scientists, computer programmers, mathematicians, and other learned scholars, Professor Chang had wondered if the apparently “junk Human DNA” was created by some kind of “extraterrestrial programmer”. The alien chunks within Human DNA, Professor Chang further observes, “have its own veins, arteries, and its own immune system that vigorously resists all our anti-cancer drugs.”

Professor Chang further stipulates that “Our hypothesis is that a higher extraterrestrial life form was engaged in creating new life and planting it on various planets. Earth is just one of them. Perhaps, after programming, our creators grow us the same way we grow bacteria in Petri dishes. We can’t know their motives – whether it was a scientific experiment, or a way of preparing new planets for colonization, or is it long time ongoing business of seedling life in the universe.”

Professor Chang further indicates that “If we think about it in our human terms, the apparent “extraterrestrial programmers” were most probably working on “one big code” consisting of several projects, and the projects should have produced various life forms for various planets. They have been also trying various solutions. They wrote “the big code”, executed it, did not like some function, changed them or added new one, executed again, made more improvements, tried again and again.”

Professor Chang’s team of researchers furthermore concludes that, “The apparent “extraterrestrial programmers” may have been ordered to cut all their idealistic plans for the future when they concentrated on the “Earth project” to meet the pressing deadline. Very likely in an apparent rush, the “extraterrestrial programmers” may have cut down drastically on big code and delivered basic program intended for Earth.”

Professor Chang is only one of many scientists and other researchers who have discovered extraterrestrial origins to Humanity.

 

 read full article at http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2007/01/08/01288.html

 

microarray for transgenomics studies and Study of Evolution of organisms

Barcode microarrayshas demosntrated the various ways in which the microarrays can be used in various ways.Though mirred in controvesy as any new technology has been subjected in its infancy, the basic principles behind the technology can be put to use in many other frontiers. It may be optimized to study transgenomics organims and its evolution. To study the development of drug resistance bacteria and virus. To find out how microbes evolve though all this may require new approaches it all could stem from the basic principles adopted by DNA microarry and barcode microarray and SNP arrays

Indian company gets 6.5 million USD IFC funding to promote contract research in bioinformatics and genetics industry

Hyderabad, November 15, 2006 – Ocimum Biosolutions today announced that International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, will invest USD 6.5 million of equity, for a minority stake, and debt in the Company. Funds raised from this transaction will be used for financing both organic as well as inorganic growth of the Company.

Says Ms. Anuradha Acharya, Founder & CEO of Ocimum Biosolutions, “We are very happy to have IFC as our partner for growth. These are exciting times for Ocimum and to have IFC as an investor in the company brings a lot of confidence in our clients and partners.”

Iyad Malas, IFC’s Director for South Asia, said, “IFC’s support to Ocimum will provide the company its much needed growth capital to establish an internationally competitive contract research outsourcing company and promote the discovery of new drugs at lower costs. We will also help institute improved corporate governance standards.”

This is Ocimum’s first round of fund raising from private equity investors. The Company is contemplating another round of fund raising in the next 18-24 months.

Recently, Ocimum acquired a Europe based oligo manufacturer. The Company is also scouting for more targets in the European market.

Avendus Advisors was the sole financial advisor to Ocimum for the deal. Commenting on the transaction, Shiraz Bugwadia, A.V.P., Avendus Advisors “Ocimum is one of the few Indian players within the BioIT and micro arrays space to have scaled up successfully over the last couple of years. Ocimum has also been successful at using the inorganic route to scale rapidly by acquiring niche good quality companies in Europe such as MWG Biotech’s division and now a Netherlands based oligos manufacturer.”

About Ocimum Biosolutions:

Ocimum Biosolutions is a life sciences R&D enabling company with three main focus areas, BioIT, Microarrays and Contract research services. The US operations of the Company focuses on custom contract research services in the molecular biology area while the Indian operations provide BioIT services and leverage on India’s low cost advantage in IT space. The Company enjoys a strong brand image in the market and has worked with some of the best research organizations in the world like IIT Kharagpur, National Research Council of Canada, Agriculture and Agri Foods, NIH, Dow Agro Sciences, etc.

Ocimum has adopted an inorganic strategy to ramp up the business fast and has demonstrated its capability to execute this strategy in the past. As a part of its strategy, Ocimum acquired a division of MWG Biotech, Germany in 2005. The Company has received a host of awards and recognitions. The Company has recently received the IT Innovation award by NASSCOM, presented by H.E. the President of India. Also, Red Herring magazine picked Ocimum as one of the eight companies to watch in India and was a winner of Red Herring’s Asia 100. Deloitte ranked the Company as Fastest growing life sciences company in India.

For more information, please visit: www.ocimumbio.com.

About International Finance Corporation:

The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is the largest multilateral provider of financing for private enterprise in developing countries. IFC finances private sector investments, mobilizes capital in international financial markets, facilitates trade, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to businesses and governments. From its founding in 1956 through FY06, IFC has committed more than $56 billion of its own funds for private sector investments in the developing world and mobilized an additional $25 billion in syndications for 3,531 companies in 140 developing countries. With the support of funding from donors, it has also provided more than $1 billion in technical assistance and advisory services.

For more information, please visit www.ifc.org.