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November 25, 2008
Gene Network Sciences Creates Quant Finance Spin-Off
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 25 -- Gene Network Sciences, Inc. (GNS) today announced that it has created a subsidiary company, Fina Technologies, Inc. (Fina) to leverage its proprietary Reverse Engineering, Forward Simulation (REFS) software platform in a new arena -- that of quantitative financial trading and e-commerce. REFS was originally developed to rapidly process raw clinical and genomics data to identify drug targets, biomarkers and drug and disease mechanisms for disease categories such as cancer, diabetes and inflammation, and has been used by GNS in partnership with leading pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organizations such as Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Novartis AG, Biogen Idec, UCSF Cancer Center, and Jackson Laboratories for these purposes.
"Hidden complex networks govern everything from human diseases to financial markets and the internet, making reliable predictions impossible," said Colin Hill, President and CEO of GNS and Chairman of the Board of Fina: "It is only today that terabytes of data, on-demand supercomputing, and next-generation artificial intelligence software have converged to enable the uncovering of such networks, and prediction of their behavior, such as predicting how a combination of two cancer drugs would affect the size of a tumor in a cancer patient with a particular DNA sequence."
GNS, who developed their proprietary REFS technology over the past eight years, uses supercomputers to rapidly accelerate the processing of raw data into meaningful biomedical outcomes. To date, this REFS software has been used to probe and analyze how genes and proteins interconnect in a complex web with the goal of developing better drugs. Today, GNS has launched Fina Technolgies (http://www.finatechnologies.com) to monetize their REFS technology in the e-commerce and financial trading markets, while remaining focused on their original drug development mission.
Fina Technologies has obtained from GNS an exclusive license to certain non-biological applications of REFS, such as quantitative finance, e-commerce, insurance, and fraud detection. "Fina will use REFS to create quantitative trading algorithms and deliver business solutions for a new class of data intensive problems," said Josh Holden, CEO of Fina. "After spending 13 years trading on Wall Street, this is the first tool I've seen that automates the discovery of complex and evolving relationships from massive amounts of data, leading to more reliable and more profitable trading strategies."
Fina Technologies is supported in their efforts through an initial round of investment led by Reed Elsevier Ventures, the venture arm of the multibillion dollar Anglo-Dutch media conglomerate Reed Elsevier, owner of such assets as Lexis-Nexis, and by a Board of Directors steeped in finance and e-commerce. In addition to Colin Hill, Co-founder and President and CEO of GNS, the Board of Fina includes Bill Trenchard, founder of Jump Networks, a start-up company that developed the world's first online calendaring system, which was sold to Microsoft for $50 million in 1999, and who is a current Board member of LiveOps, another company he founded. Also on the Board of Fina are Kevin Brown, Partner at Reed Elsevier Ventures; and Robert Maroney, Investment Manager at Connecticut Investments, LLC.
About REFS
Reverse Engineering/Forward Simulation (REFS) is a technology that systematically turns multiple layers of data into an unprecedented view of complex systems as a "whole," without requiring previous knowledge of the structure of the system. REFS begins with raw data and rapidly performs billions upon billions of calculations using supercomputers to determine how the individual components in the system interact with one another (Reverse Engineering). These computer-assembled models are then simulated using billions of in silico queries (Forward Simulation) to discover the highest-impact components and to predict outcomes for previously unseen scenarios.
About Gene Network Sciences
Founded in 2000, Gene Network Sciences (http://www.gnsbiotech.com) is a leader in biosimulation with its ability to derive molecular mechanisms of drugs and diseases directly from molecular profiling and clinical data without any a priori knowledge. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, GNS uses its REFS (reverse engineering and forward simulation) technology in pharmaceutical and clinical settings to rapidly turn complex and heterogeneous data sets into cell and organ-level computer models of disease biology, drug efficacy and drug safety. These models simulate mechanisms of disease and the clinical performance of drug candidates. By discovering how and why specific drug candidates impact human biology, GNS technology enables the rapid development of breakthrough drug and diagnostic products.
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Source: Gene Network Sciences
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