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Molecular
Connections files patent for informatics products
Vijaya
K - Bangalore
MOLECULAR
Connections, the Bangalore based dry lab solutions provider for
drug discovery process, has filed patents for two products in the
areas of text mining technology for target identification and target
validation. Molecular Connections is a joint venture between Idea2Solutions,
an incubator and the venture capital arm promoted by the founders
of Dr Reddy’s group and Kent Ridge Digital Labs (KRDL), a bioinformatics
lab in Singapore.
The
two products MCHIPS (Molecular Connections High density Interaction
Pathway System) and MTEST (Molecular Connections Target Evaluation
and Shortlisting Tool) are commercialised in the US market where
the company has already a customer base. The target identification
product enjoys a market size of $150 million and the market for
its validation product is estimated at $500 million. ‘‘Our
basic rationale is to be an insilico drug discovery partner for
pharmaceutical majors bringing in the domain knowledge on pharma
from Dr Reddy’s group and on informatics side from KRDL,’’
says Jignesh Bhate, director of the company.
However
Jignesh says, ‘‘Our experience shows that the Indian market
is not as yet matured to use new biology approach and high end tools
in bioinformatics. Informatics is still nascent in India and not
many companies in India have initiated ‘‘new biology’’
research.’’
Molecular
Connections is initiating a programme next month to actively seek
academic collaborations especially in the area of Molecular Biology,
BioChemistry and Protein Chemistry. ‘‘We are in the final
stages of negotiations with three customers based in Japan and the
US,’’ he informed. Heading for further plans in terms
of geographical expansions Jignesh asserts, ‘‘We cannot
ignore the European market and at some point of time perhaps by
the end of April next year we plan to enter the UK and German markets.’’
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