NEWS BRIEFS
Princeton, N.J. — AxCell Biosciences Corporation announced that it has strengthened its strategic relationship with Compaq Computer Corporation. Last December, AxCell began using Compaq’s High Performance Tru64 Unix Alpha Systems to deliver the speed, scalability and performance required to chart the signaling pathways within the human proteome. Due to increasing laboratory data output, AXCELL’S computing requirements have more than doubled. Compaq’s Alphaserver cluster technology has made the required expansion seamless. AxCell is developing the Interfunctional Proteomics Database as a means of discovering new drug targets, and determining the functional role of single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPS in pharmacogenomics.
“After working with Compaq for nearly a year, we are pleased to expand our development relationship with them,” said Brian R. Bullard, Vice-President and Chief Information Officer of AxCell. “With increased data production from our laboratories, we will need additional enhanced computing power to support the data analysis capabilities that are so critical to our research work. Compaq’s Tru64 UNIX scalable architecture will allow AxCell to build on its existing computer systems adding needed computational power.”
“Compaq has intensified its commitment to the life sciences industry in the past year, and we are pleased to expand our relationship with AxCell,” said Patrick Chassaigne, Director, Life Sciences at Compaq. “Compaq provides high-performance computing solutions and services to assist AxCell in charting the proteome, and our relationship with AxCell demonstrates Compaq’s continued commitment to the application of computing solutions to life sciences with emphasis on proteomics.”
AxCell Biosciences, a subsidiary of Cytogen, is using its high-throughput technology to chart protein signaling pathways in the human proteome as a means of discovering new drug targets. AxCell is developing a proprietary protein-pathway database, the Inter-Functional Proteomic Database(tm), as a discovery and development tool for subscribers in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural industries. AxCell’s bioinformatics platform is designed to identify drug targets for optimization and development through the application of novel, innovative and rapid techniques for deriving intracellular protein-pathway data. For additional information on AxCell Biosciences, visit http://www.axcellbio.com .
Cytogen Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company in Princeton, NJ, whose mission is to set new standards in cancer care. Its two principal lines of business, proteomics and oncology, are built upon its expertise in antibodies and molecular recognition and are directed principally to development of novel products for the diagnosis, imaging, staging and treatment of prostate cancer and a proteomics-driven drug discovery platform. The Company’s cancer management franchise currently comprises four FDA-approved products: ProstaScint, used to image the extent and spread of prostate cancer; BrachySeed implants for prostate cancer therapy; OncoScint CR/OV, a diagnostic imaging agent for colorectal and ovarian cancer; and Quadramet, for the relief of cancer-related bone pain. The Company has established a pipeline of product candidates based on its proprietary antibody and prostate specific membrane antigen, or PSMA, technologies, and holds worldwide exclusive license to PSMA. Cytogen and its joint venture partner, Progenics Pharmaceuticals, are developing in vivo immunotherapies for prostate cancer based on PSMA. The Company also has U.S. marketing rights to the late-stage product candidate Combidex(r), a magnetic resonance imaging agent being developed by Advanced Magnetics for the detection of lymph node metastases. For additional information visit http://www.cytogen.com .
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