Bio Screening Industry News

Aarhus Denmark, July 3rd, 2008 – Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) has signed a global site license agreement for CLC bio’s Next Generation Sequencing solution, CLC Genomics Workbench. The site license covers all researchers at all BGI sites, both inside and outside of China.

Head of Bioinformatics Division at BGI, Ruiqiang Li states, “We have chosen CLC Genomics Workbench as our platform for analyzing Next Generation Sequencing data after testing several commercial solutions, because it’s simply in a league of its own when it comes to flexibility and the way the Next Generation Sequencing tools can be used together with our own algorithms. In an organization of our size - with seventeen Illumina GA analyzers, as well as two AB/SOLiD and three Roche/454 Next Generation Sequencing machines, all of them running at full capacity - efficient workflows are of critical importance. We can support and expand our workflows by giving our scientists easy access via the Workbench to our own in-house developed algorithms. In no time, CLC Genomics Workbench has proved amazingly popular with our internal researchers, due to the fast, user-friendly and versatile platform it provides.”

Director of Partner Sales at CLC bio, Michael Heltzen states, “We are most thrilled to have agreed on a global site license with one of the best bioinformatics and sequencing facilities in the world, only four weeks after our solution for analyzing and visualizing Next Generation Sequencing data was released. Furthermore, we are honored that the famous bioinformatics researchers from BGI have chosen our Workbench as a working platform for both our and their own algorithms, side by side. CLC Genomics Workbench will help the scientists at BGI with their daily research, including prestigious projects like the Giant Panda Genome Project and the 1000 Genomes Project.”

CLC Genomics Workbench is the first comprehensive analysis package which can analyze and visualize data from all the major NGS platforms, such as Solexa by Illumina, SOLiD by Applied Biosystems, 454 by Roche Applied Science, and HeliScope by Helicos. CLC Genomics Workbench takes full advantage of “paired end” data and supports a number of features and work-tasks, such as reference assembly of genomes, de novo assembly of genomes, SNP detection using advanced models, multiplexing, and high-throughput trimming. Read more about it at: www.clcbio.com/genomics

CLC Genomics Workbench is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

About Beijing Genomics Institute

Beijing Genomics Institute is one of the leading global Genomics Institutes in the world, established in July 1999. Since then, BGI has grown rapidly and is partner in a number of international consortiums, including partnerships with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, NIH and NHGRI on the 1,000 Genomes Project. BGI now has a number of research locations including major sites in Shenzhen and Beijing.

BGI aims to advance the understanding of biology and medicine through the use of large-scale sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. The institute also offers sequencing services to the international community. BGI promotes the use of genome-scale scientific approaches and strongly supports collaborative efforts in order to achieve this goal.

For further information, please contact:
Jia Ye, Spokesperson
Beijing Genomics Institute, Shenzhen
Tel: +86 755 25273910
Fax: +86 755 25273620
E-mail yejia@genomics.org.cn

About CLC bio

CLC bio is the world’s leading full-service bioinformatics solution provider, solely focusing on the development of bioinformatics: software, hardware, data analysis, and custom-designed bioinformatics algorithms.

CLC bio’s mission is to be among the most innovative bioinformatics companies in the 21st century. This is realized through:

• Development of bioinformatics software and hardware based on the latest scientific findings
• User-friendly, integrated and intuitive cross-platform software solutions
• Continuous focus on customer needs and superior customer service
• Frequent product updates including the latest IT technologies and bioinformatics algorithms
• A flexible IT architecture, enabling customers to buy or develop individualized solutions at a reasonable price

Though Mumie has been used in folk medicine of different countries for almost two thousand years, there are still many legends regarding its mysterious origin. In Russia serious research has been conducted on Mumie since 1910. This research became even more intense during the past twenty years Government financing supported research that was conducted at major laboratories within the national science and medicine academies of the republics from Mumie’s origin (Middle Asia region of the former USSR (Kirgysia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan).

Health organizations aren’t the only groups interested in Mumie. In Russia and many of the former USSR republics, Mumie is considered a strategic material and is used extensively as a performance enhancer within the armed forces (Spetnaz and other elite fighting groups) to help prepare cosmonauts before and during space travel, and as an important part in the restoration programs of national and Olympic-level athletes. It was surprising to me that Mumie was unknown to American athletes until recently when it was introduced by a Russian/American company in 1991.

To locate the origin for the word Mumie, one would have to go back 2,500 years to the time of the ancient philosopher and scientist Aristotle. He proposed the first procedures for testing the compound as well as its initial preparation in grape juice, honey and milk. Mumie is often used by ordinary persons to treat bone fractures and strains of muscles and ligaments, stomach disorders, nervous and cardiovascular problems, the inflammation of joints, and impotence. It is a good bio-stimulator, serves to elevate the immune system and neuro-hormonal regulation, controls oxidation-reduction processes, and has a positive influence on mineral metabolism. The most recent survey of the practical applications of Mumie have come from Moscow through the efforts of Drs. A.A. Altamyshev and B.K. Kortshubelkov and supported by the Russian Committee of Cosmonautics. To date, several hundreds research investigations have been conducted on Mumie which clearly point to its mechanisms of action and its usefulness.

Article about Mumie

As the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) of the WHO prepares to meet and discuss how to best facilitate the expropriation of intellectual property rights (in this case the IPR of pharmaceutical patents) it’s important to consider the unintended consequences — the death of medical innovation.

The global purloiners of patents — led by Jamie Love — are thrilled to point out all of the new and important medicines that are the low hanging fruit of their property theft proposals — but are far less keen to explain how the fruit tree got there in the first place — or how they are nurtured.

In India, political leaders long cited former Prime Minister Indira Ghandi’s call for an end to “profiteering from life or death” in defense of their prohibition of patents on medicine. But in 2005, India reversed course and re-established patent protection for pharmaceutical products. The reason? Less than 10 percent of the nation’s estimated 3.5 million AIDS patients were receiving any medicine at all.

In other words, the elimination of patent rights doesn’t produce greater access to medicines.

There is a reason why virtually all the world’s “miracle drugs” have been developed in Western countries. It’s called incentive.

Intellectual property rights are the fertile soil that allowed the tree to grow in the first place — and to thrive. To borrow an over-used adjective from the world of global climate change — we must protect “sustainable” innovation.

Jamie Love and Company may very well say, “A world without patents, amen.” And they’re right, because minus pharmaceutical IPR we’d all better start saying our prayers — because that’s the only way we’re going to battle disease and improve the health of our global fraternity.

If the IGWG succeeds, pharmaceutical innovation dies. And that’s a Silent Spring we cannot afford.

Author: Peter Pitts
Source: DrugWonks

Visakhpatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India – December 20, 2007 — CLC bio today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding at an official ceremony at Andhra University, one of the most prestigious universities in India.

Under the agreement, Andhra University and 25 affiliated post graduate colleges will implement CLC bio’s educational solutions as an integrated part of their curriculum. CLC bio provides their top-line sequence analysis software, CLC Combined Workbench, to the university and colleges as well as training of the teachers and provision of customized education materials like PowerPoint slides, exercises, and more.

At the signing ceremony, Professor L. Venu Gopal Reddy, Vice Chancellor of Andhra University stated,
‘Its our great pleasure to announce this collaboration with CLC bio India. We are very happy to state that from now on Andhra University will be a dedicated user of CLC bio’s bioinformatics solutions in all our life science departments like Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Botany and Human Genetics. We consider CLC bio to be the premier bioinformatics solution provider in the world and this agreement will support education in Andhra University significantly. We are very proud to say that this agreement generates a significant competitive advantage compared to most other universities in India and abroad, in the field of bioinformatics and life sciences.’

Thomas Knudsen, Chief Executive Officer in the CLC bio Group continued,
‘I am honored to be attending the signing ceremony of this important agreement. I am sure that the use of our Educational Solutions - already implemented at a large number of universities in Europe, USA, and India - will bring Andhra University and the affiliated colleges a great step forward in their work to be among the top universities in India and abroad. I am also very happy with the extensive future collaboration which is a part of the agreement, ensuring that CLC bio’s Educational Solutions will always stay at pace with the fast moving educational sector in India.’

The software implementation and training will be carried out by CLC bio India which is headquartered in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

For more information on CLC bio’s educational solutions, go to:
www.clceducation.com

About CLC bio
CLC bio is the world’s leading full-service bioinformatics solution provider, solely focusing on the development of bioinformatics: software, hardware, data analysis, and custom-designed bioinformatics algorithms. CLC bio is an Apple solution provider and value added reseller.

CLC bio’s mission is to be among the most innovative bioinformatics companies in the 21st century. This is realized through:

Development of bioinformatics software and hardware based on the latest scientific findings
User-friendly, integrated and intuitive cross-platform software solutions
Continuous focus on customer needs and superior customer service
Frequent product updates including the latest IT technologies and bioinformatics algorithms
A flexible IT architecture, enabling customers to buy or develop individualized solutions at a reasonable price

With emergence of specialised software applications, drug discovery has become a highly cost-competitive area for Indian pharma companies. Nagesh Joshi examines the use of specialised software applications in drug discovery

Drug discovery was the main aim of any pharma company, prior to the advent of the doctrine that companies could have a profitable business model without selling a drug they actually ‘invented’. A pharma company could just make changes in the ‘process’ and have a ‘generic’ version of a drug. This doctrine was supported by most of the developing economies in order to protect their populations from the over-pricing of the patented ‘original’ versions of various life saving drugs.

After the advent of WTO norms, which have been accepted by almost all nations now, product patents on original drugs have become recognisable even in developing nations. Companies have been forced to wait until the patents lapse to market generic versions.

The drug discovery process has become more and more complex, time consuming and very expensive, causing a many-fold increase in the R&D budgets of pharma companies. It still remains the best chance to make money for a pharma company, but has become unaffordable for all except the so-called ‘big pharma’. However, the other leaner business models are emerging. One case-in-point being the recent new drug development agreement between Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL) and Eli Lilly, wherein NPIL will develop, and in certain regions, commercialise a select group of Lilly’s pre-clinical drug candidates.

Biopharmaceutical companies are also coming up with cheaper, faster and more efficient ways of getting to new chemical entities. The advent of in-silico technologies for optimising the R&D pipeline from basic biology phase to chemistry phase, to lead optimisation and so on up to clinical trials has also led to considerable improvements in efficiency.

“Another business model, especially important to India, is to spin off R&D as a separate business entity to raise resources, as well as reduce risk. Variants of this strategy have been followed by Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, NPIL—the three largest pharma companies of India—for high-rewards in the area of research and development,” says Dr Vijay Chandru, Chairman, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Strand Life Sciences.

An important trend here is the rising investment in health care related expenses on IT by many developing nations, including India, that are opening new doors.

Need for computing software

The traditional method of drug discovery, as known to all pharma companies and research scientists, is a highly serendipitous process. Therefore, the cost of developing a successful new molecule also reflects the expense of failed molecules. Thus, the scientists/researchers are always looking for ways to avoid failures and to improve their chances of success.

Therefore, certain technologies, which facilitate the enhancement of predictability, for example, computer aided drug design (CADD) or molecular modelling, are finding increased acceptance in the process of drug discovery. Most innovation driven research companies are utilising CADD as a fundamental step in optimising their research activities and finding ways to arrest the failures earlier. There are computing softwares which help knowledgeable scientists in the ‘what-if analysis’ by studying various molecule-protein interaction scenarios, comprehensive exploration of the chemical and biological space without actually making them, design better leads, detect problems at molecular level at an early stage so that time and effort in the essential experimental work in the laboratory is optimised, thus improving overall research productivity.

There are two main challenges that the drug discovery domain is facing presently:

1. The rising cost of the process of drug discovery itself, with scarce talented resources and rising input costs affects the efficiency of the process

2. The intellectual property rights (IPR) protection issues arising because different countries follow different norms affects the effectiveness of the process

Apart from these two, there are other nagging issues such as, the limited success pharma and biotech companies have achieved in terms of reducing the development time period, in spite of the availability of several reliable in-silico methods and technologies.

The rising number of generic companies as well as ‘one product’ or ‘one technology’ companies are reducing the market share enjoyed earlier by the major pharma companies, putting pressure on their bottom lines ,as well as top lines.

The present scenario

While the technologies have not matured to the extent that their output is always right, technology products, as a tool in the hands of a knowledgeable scientist, is a significant contributor towards improving research productivity. Therefore, the expectations from technology are increasing day by day.

“Amongst the few technology providers in CADD and molecular modelling domain, companies which are innovative and are keeping pace with the evolving science are likely to survive and grow rapidly. On the other hand, significant opportunities for students are emerging in the CADD area, as it is increasingly adopted as a fundamental activity in most drug discovery programs globally,” says Atul Aslekar, Chief Executive Officer, VLife Sciences.

“A typical research program consists of two distinct phases—discovery and development. In the first phase, CADD is increasingly used as a starting point”, says Dr Sudhir Kulkarni, Principle Scientist at VLife Sciences.

CADD provides a strong tool to scientists, which enables them to custom design a new molecule, keeping in mind the specific requirements of protein causing disease condition. It also helps scientists to try out various ideas in a short time, as compared to conventional methods. In-silico technologies like CADD enhance the exploration space for a new molecule. Novel virtual screening technologies are enabling scanning of the chemical possibilities on variety of criteria such as ligand binding, absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) properties, etc. CADD technologies are helping in understanding drug-target interactions at a molecular level, which helps in designing better drug candidates. In the hands of an able scientist, CADD can not only significantly save the invested time, but can also lead to higher quality of pre-clinical candidates with higher probability of success, in later investigations.

Different research organisations, trade magazines and industrial bodies have put the research expenses going into drug discovery anywhere between $500 million-1.2 billion. However, an expenditure of about $900 million-1 billion may be considered as a reliable estimate from the amount of R&D expenses disclosed by all the big pharma companies, and the number of new drugs they have been able to discover over the last decade.

Anu Acharya, Chief Executive Officer, Ocimum BioSolutions, places the potential size of the drug discovery software market as $2 billion. According to her, “The drug discovery software market in India is at a nascent to mid-maturity stage.”

An estimate of the failure rate could be had from the reality, that of the approximately 5,000 compounds that enter the medicinal chemistry and drug metabolism and pharmaco-kinetics (DMPK) evaluation phases of drug discovery, only one succeeds and becomes a drug.

“There are several pain points that specialised software tools can help relieve for scientists working on drug discovery. Specialised software can either be used to manage data and analyse it or to generate very large amounts of data by carrying out experiments on a scale hitherto impossible,” informs Dr Chandru of Strand Life Sciences.

The software applications used for generation of data are usually in the preliminary stages of the drug discovery process. These stages involve basic biological and chemistry research for identifying targets, biomarkers, genes responsible for the disease etc. on the biology side. On the chemistry side, it involves a lot of high throughput screening processes to quickly and cheaply eliminate potentially less useful hits. Software tools used during this stage run specialised algorithms and applications for identifying patterns, outliers and specific features in data points generated through experiments. Some applications, such as the embedded software in various gene expression analysis equipment, help in generation of such data points.

In the later stages of the process, data management and analysis for better and more efficient decision support become more important. The software applications used here are focused more on statistical data analysis and modelling ,using various machine learning-based techniques.

The main steps in which software applications prove helpful are QSAR modeling, computational chemistry modelling for early ADME-Tox and DMPK predictions. Recently, data at the stage of clinical trials has also been put to statistical tests using high-end statistical analysis software tools.

Quality of the software suite

Reliability and predictability of performance, consistent delivery and accuracy of output, equal ease-of-use for beginner, moderate and advance skilled users, and flexibility of analysis/performance options for users are few important qualities of good software. A vendor should ideally, have high quality resources for developing the software with rich experience in having actually done the laboratory experimentation that the software is going to aid in, have quality development, data security and testing processes in place, rapid and end-to-end customer support capabilities in case of queries and/or failures of any scale and type.

Phases in drug discovery that can use software:

The following stages require software applications to support efficient decision making at each of these stages. They are arranged in the order of appearance in the drug discovery pipeline:

1. Systems biology modelling
2. SNP & gene expression analysis
3. Biomarkers
4. Pathway analysis
5. Molecular profiling
6. Computational chemistry
7. Focused libraries
8. QSAR modeling
9. Lead optimization
10. ADME-Tox

Product pricing

The software products used in drug discovery domain are priced differentially. Pricing is highly flexible as the deliverables are quite readily customisable. Most vendors prefer enterprise-wide licensing deals with annual maintenance contracts, since they usually have lock in periods (commonly three years).

The more advanced or specialised products are still sold on outright purchase basis. These are typically for very specialised and/or limited access use. Drug development agreements are on the rise and industry analysts predict many more pharma companies will follow the model set by the NPIL-Lilly deal. The GVK BIO Wyeth Hyderabad Chemistry Center, a built-to-suit research centre for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals located in Hyderabad, is another example.

In conclusion, though the market for drug discovery/development software products is still at a fairly nascent phase in India, it seems set to grow as Indian pharma companies position themselves as partners in drug discovery and developers. Companies like Strand Lifesciences, Ocimum BioSolutions, VLife Sciences and the likes will reap the benefits of being the early birds in a sunrise industry.

SOYA BEAN is packed with powerful punch. It not only has the power to absorb the heavy metals from the mother earth but also has the potential as a bio-fuel besides possessing the quality to fight the dreaded HIV.

Realising the potential Naithani Plant Genetics Laboratory of Botany Department, Allahabad University (AU), has approached the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CISR), New Delhi, to fund its project to carry out further researches on soya bean.

“Soya bean, scientifically called as Glycine max, is a food legume with 18-23 per cent oil content and 38-44 per cent protein content.

It has been found as the richest source of protein after meat and egg. Soya bean can also absorb a considerable amount of heavy metals like cadmium and lead from contaminated soil, acting as Phytoremediator. It has the ability to absorb the deadly poisonous TNT (Tri Nitro Toluene) which is an explosive, present in higher amounts in the soils around factories involved in the production of explosives”, said Dr Girijesh Kumar of Botany Department, AU.

“It was interesting to note that there was no effect in the seed oil content of the plants grown in the contaminated area. For this unique property soya bean can be used for reclaiming soils damaged by industrial wastes. Oil from these plants can be used as bio-diesel by a process called transesterification. Hence, it can be an alternative to petroleum-based fuels, which are dwindling at an alarming rate,” added Dr Kumar.

Dr Kumar said that continuous efforts were being made to raise better mutant genes through mutation breeding. A successful experimentation has been done to study the accumulation of heavy metals in different parts of plants without any damage to the quality of protein and oil content. By using mutation as tool, efforts are on to increase the oil content which could be used as an alternative for petroleum-based fuels. Tetraloids have successfully been raised which doubled the size of the seed.

Since, soya bean is the cheapest source of vegetable protein and its contains many beneficial compounds like lecithin’s, phyto-sterols, fibros, saponins etc which help in cancer prevention, cholesterol reduction and prevention of cardio-vascular diseases, in combating osteoporosis and it is also good for diabetes, therefore it has been selected by us for considerable improvement through mutation breeding. Very few people know that it contains a compound called ‘Saponin B1′ which has anti-HIV properties.

Dr Kumar said that despite so many important features the soya bean farming and its use has not gained popularity owing to its taste. The factor behind it is the presence of linolenic acid in the soya bean.

The experiments are underway to decrease the lenolenic acid level in soya bean for making it more popular. The reduction in linolenic acid content of soya bean by mutation through gamma-rays has given positive results. The modified soya bean was much tasty and the durability of the food cooked by soya bean oil has also been found to have increased. The modified soya bean would also simplify the oil extraction process thus reducing the cost of its oil.

Dr Kumar informed that along with research scholar Priyanka Rai, they have already begun work on the project and set to go full steam once the green signal is received from the CSIR.

SINGAPORE, Norway, Sept 6, 2007 - (Hugin via ACN Newswire) - ATLANTA and SINGAPORE, Sept. 6, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — Tikvah Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on new treatment options to better manage central nervous system diseases, and Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd., a drug discovery and development company focusing on central nervous system disorders, yesterday announced a collaboration and option agreement designed to advance and accelerate the development of four compounds targeted at a broad range of psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder from Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd.’s developmental pipeline. These compounds have shown robustly positive results in the chakragati (ckr) mouse model, a patented transgenic mouse model for dopamine dysfunction that has been validated as a model for screening antipsychotic compounds.

“These novel compounds are potentially important new agents because they have been identified through a unique physiologically based transgenic mouse model of dopamine function. This greatly increases the likelihood of success in the clinic and reduces the time needed for successful development,” said Daniel E. Casey, M.D., professor of psychiatry and neurology at Oregon Health and Science University, in Portland. “Combining the Central Nervous System drug development experience of Tikvah Therapeutics’ personnel with the novel drug discovery capability of Chakra Biotech forges a strong partnership for advancing new treatments for a number of serious psychiatric and neurological illnesses.”

The social and financial consequences of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are substantial. Currently, there is a lack of adequate treatment options to alleviate positive, negative, and mood symptoms for many patients utilizing available antipsychotic medications; furthermore, significant side effects are frequently associated with the available medications.

“There is a considerable need for new broad-spectrum treatments with low side effect burdens for many psychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,” said Dr. Harold H. Shlevin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tikvah Therapeutics, Inc. “We are very excited by the opportunity to work closely with Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd. to further the development of these potentially significant compounds with the goal of bringing hope to patients with these debilitating illnesses.”

The four Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd.’s compounds are fully synthetic and easily manufactured as single optical isomers. The lead compound CB030006 has been evaluated by in vitro and in silico analysis to be a dopamine D2 receptor antagonist with affinity levels unlikely to cause extrapyramidal side effects. The compound also has high affinity at the 5-HT2 receptors, particularly the 5-HT2A receptor. CB030006 also has 5-HT2C and 5-HT6 receptor antagonism similar to the current medications, olanzapine and clozapine. Additionally, CB030006 exhibits inhibition of noradrenaline reuptake, which may be associated with antidepressant and precognitive effects. CB030006 is predicted not to interact with the hERG channel decreasing the risk for drug-induced cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. Results from in silico binding studies predict no interaction with histamine receptors associated with sedation, weight gain and associated drug-induced diabetes.

“We believe Tikvah Therapeutics is an ideal partner. The Tikvah team has extensive experience in the development of new pharmaceuticals for Central Nervous System disorders, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,” said Anthony Bishop, Director at Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd. “The collaboration with Tikvah Therapeutics will propel our development program forward toward human clinical trials.”

About Schizophrenia and Bipolar Diseases

The social and financial consequences of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are substantial. Schizophrenia is characterized by symptoms of hallucinations, delusional beliefs, disorganized thinking or speech, social withdrawal and apathy. Bipolar disorder also known as manic depressive disorder is characterized by extreme shifts in mood, energy, and functioning. Examples of adverse side effects of commonly used medications for treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar include sedation; extrapyramidal effects such as tremors, acute muscle contractions, inner restlessness, stiffness and shuffling gait; cardiovascular effects including QTc prolongation; and metabolic effects including weight gain and diabetes.

About Tikvah Therapeutics, Inc.

Tikvah Therapeutics, Inc., Atlanta, Ga., focuses on exploring new uses for late-stage pharmaceutical compounds in selected therapeutic indications of Central Nervous System diseases - neurology and psychiatry. Its focus is on new therapeutic uses which have been confirmed in multiple, clinical proof-of-concept studies. This strategy shortens product development timelines and substantially decreases the risk associated with the research and development efforts. A second prong of its strategy is to focus on specialized products with multiple stepping-stone indications and strong patent protections, thus helping to ensure long product life cycles and manageable commercial risk. For further information, please see www.tikvahtherapeutics.com.

About Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd

Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd. is a Singapore-based drug discovery and development company aiming to improve the lives of people with Central Nervous System disorders. We have a portfolio of antipsychotic compounds and an exclusive license to a transgenic mouse model for dopamine dysfunction. The model exhibits a number of behavioral, anatomical and pharmacological characteristics of schizophrenia that parallel those found in humans and has been validated as a screen for antipsychotic compounds. The company is combining its unique screening model with an exclusively licensed library of novel compounds. This provides a solid foundation for discovering novel leads and advancing its pipeline towards human clinical trials. For more information please see www.chakrabiotech.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains certain forward-looking information that is intended to be covered by the safe harbor for “forward-looking statements” provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward- looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Words such as “expect(s),” “feel(s),” “believe(s),” “will,” “may,” “anticipate(s)” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions; statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, products and services; and statements regarding future performance. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Tikvah Therapeutics Inc., that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include: those generally associated with developmental stage biopharmaceutical companies; the progress or likelihood of success of our product research and development programs; potential benefits from our collaboration with Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd.; the status of our preclinical and clinical development of potential drugs; the likelihood of success of our drug products in clinical trials and the regulatory approval process; our drug products’ efficacy, abuse and tamper resistance, onset and duration of drug action, ability to provide protection from overdose, ability to reduce the development of tolerance, ability to improve symptomatology or otherwise improve patients’ symptoms; the incidence of adverse events; the ability to develop, manufacture, launch and market our drug products; our projections for future revenues, profitability and ability to achieve certain sales targets; our estimates regarding our capital requirements and our needs for additional financing; the likelihood of obtaining favorable scheduling and labeling of our drug products; the likelihood of regulatory approval under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; our ability to develop safer and improved versions of widely-prescribed drugs using our technology; and our ability to obtain favorable patent claims. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward- looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof. Tikvah Therapeutics Inc. does not undertake any obligation to republish revised forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

“TIKVAH THERAPEUTICS, INC.”, “Bringing Hope to Life”, and the above logo design are trademarks of Tikvah Therapeutics, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia USA

CONTACT: Tikvah Therapeutics, Inc. Jack Callicutt +1 404-920-3182 jcallicutt@tikvahtherapeutics.com

Chakra Biotech Anthony Bishop +65 9767 0227 anthony@chakrabiotech.com

Copyright © Hugin ASA 2007. All rights reserved.

Chakra Biotech Pte Ltd.

Singapore R&D center to develop life science instruments targeted for US$650 million market

SINGAPORE, Feb. 1, 2007 - Fluidigm accelerates its R&D and manufacturing activities in Singapore, through the launch of its new Biomedical Product Development Center. This center, a core part of Fluidigm’s worldwide R&D organization, will be responsible for the full development of a Fluidigm BioMark II series of instrumentation.

The BioMark II system will allow Fluidigm to expand its business into the biomarker validation market, which is a rapidly growing market in the life science industry. This strategic development makes Fluidigm the first biotechnology company to expand its portfolio in Singapore, with leading-edge biochip and system R&D capabilities. It also underlines the company’s confidence in Singapor’s technical competence.

The Biomedical Product Development Center
The center’s initial research activities will support the development of instrumentation for the BioMark II system. The Singapore research group will undertake 100% of the R&D on a new biochip fluorescence reader and biochip loader, specially designed for high-throughput genotyping and protein expression applications. Fluidigm Singapore will also manufacture the BioMark II system. These new instrumentation will allow the company to tap into the genotyping and protein expression markets, valued at US$ 350 million and US$300 million respectively. This will help Fluidigm expand further into the research tool market, broaden the reach of its current products and enable the development of future products.

Operations for the Biomedical Product Development Center will commence immediately, with its current R&D team of 5. Additional staff will be recruited from Singapore’s large pool of manufacturing and research expertise. The R&D center will also be supported by the local precision engineering companies, academic, biomedical and pharmaceuticals research institutions.

Headquartered in the U.S., Fluidigm Corporation set up Fluidigm Singapore as its first offshore R&D and manufacturing operation. This introduced the breakthrough nanofluidic biochips, known as Integrated Fluidic Circuits (IFC) into the local biomedical sciences scene. Analogous to microprocessors in the semiconductor industry, these IFC biochips can replace roomfuls of lab equipment in the life sciences industry. The BioMark II system leverages on IFC’s innovative technology to achieve dramatic improvements for genetic and protein analysis, over existing technologies. Fluidigm’s cutting-edge solutions have contributed to the research success of many internationally, well-regarded academics and pharmaceutical companies. See Annex 1 for more information on IFCs and the BioMark system. See BioMark News Highlight sheet for success stories of how Fluidigm?s solutions have helped its clients.

“We are very pleased with Fluidigm Singapore’s progress over the last year. The expansion of our portfolio through the Biomedical Product Development Centre is evidence of Singapore’s conducive environment for cutting-edge biomedical R&D activities. We look forward to further strengthening Fluidigm Singapore’s development capabilities, through new technology transfer and applications development,” said Mr. Gajus Worthington, President and CEO of Fluidigm Corporation. See Annex 2 for Mr. Worthington’s biodata.

“The expansion of Fluidigm’s Singapore operations to include product development and the manufacture of a new instrument systems underscores the important role that Singapore plays in Fluidigm?s vision for growth,” said

Mr Philip Yeo, Chairman, Agency Science Technology & Research (A*STAR) and Chairman, Bio*One Capital. Mr Yeo was the guest-of-honor at the official launch of the Biomedical Product Development Center. “The new Fluidigm Biomedical Product Development Center will allow the company to leverage on the biochip capabilities and the supporting precision engineering infrastructure in Singapore, to be a key player in the rapidly growing market in scientific instruments. Bio*One Capital through its investments, has played a pivotal role in supporting the growth of Fluidigm since 2001, leading to the expansion of its operations here. Together with the EDB’s Biomedical Sciences Group, Fluidigm will be assured of continuing support for the exciting new project in Singapore.”

Rapid progress in Singapore
The launch of the Biomedical Product Development Centre has cemented Fluidigm Singapore as a key player in the local biomedical sciences industry. Fluidigm Singapore has made tremendous progress since its October 2005 opening. In less than a year, the company established full process capability for its first product - the TOPAZ Screening Chip. This is a specialized IFC biochip for protein crystallization, a research process used to study a protein’s structure and, in doing so, assess its role in disease and suitability as a target for drug therapies. The TOPAZ chip has major pharmaceutical companies amongst its list of key customers. Following this success, the company took on expanded R&D responsibilities to work on the next generation of biochips. In August 2006, the Singapore team successfully produced the Dynamic Array chip, one of the most complex and advanced biochips on the market. In December 2006, a new product pilot line was transferred from the U.S., to support the development of the next generation of IFC chips in Singapore. These new generation IFC chips will have much higher scale of integration, and provide exponential increases in throughput for the customers.

Fluidigm Singapore has successfully collaborated with many local precision engineering companies to develop enabling technologies for biochip fabrication. These include laser technology applications, high precision machining and molding technologies. These novel solutions will translate into millions of dollars in cost savings for the company.

About Fluidigm
Fluidigm Corporation develops and distributes systems based on the unique properties of integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) to precisely control fluids on a nano-volume scale. The company’s vision is to create and to lead a new industry in which IFCs bring unparalleled efficiencies to the life science and allied fields. Based in South San Francisco, California, the Company is privately held and backed by premier investors: Versant Ventures, Euclid SR Partners, InterWest Partners, Lehman Brothers Healthcare Fund, Bruce Burrows, Singapore Bio*One Capital, Lilly BioVentures, the Invus Group, GE Equity, SightLine Partners, AllianceBernstein, Wasatch Advisors and its affiliate, Cross Creek Capital and Alloy Ventures.

For media enquiries, contact

Chan Yiu Lin
Greener Grass Communications
Email: yiulin@greenergrass.com.sg
HP: (65)-9765 5897

Genetic Study to Understand Linkage Between Lead Exposure and Children’s Intellectual Development in India; Possible Model for Broader Gene/Environment/Health Research

Laurel, MD, January 24, 2007 — BioServe, a leading provider of rapid, economical processing and analyses of genomic content from biological samples, has been selected to work with scientists from the Harvard and University of Michigan Schools of Public Health on a landmark study aimed at understanding how genetics and environmental lead pollution interact to affect children’s intellectual and behavioral functioning. Under terms of the agreement, BioServe will perform DNA purification and genotyping on tissue samples collected from 750 school children in Chennai (formerly Madras), India who have been exposed to lead pollutants. The goal is to help the investigators determine whether genetic factors predispose children to–or protect them from–certain toxic effects.

Although it is well-known that high lead levels in the body can negatively affect intelligence, this is the first study in India to measure that effect. The study is unusual in that (1) it will also measure how lead exposure affects both visual-spatial-motor skills and aggressive behavior and (2) it is one of the first studies to research how individual genetic makeup may modify the neurobehavioral impact of lead exposure.

BioServe was chosen to perform the genetic work because of the company’s reputation for highly advanced genomic analysis, industry experience, and its state-of-the-art facilities in India.

“This study represents a cutting edge research collaboration that will gain insights into a global environmental health problem,” said Howard Hu M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D, the principle investigator.  Hu is Chair and Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Adjunct Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the Harvard School of Public Health.

“India and other countries are undergoing rapid urbanization, population shifts to cities, industrialization and a steep increase in the use of fossil fuels for energy and transportation –-but population exposures to newer pollution hazards remain understudied,” Hu explained. “Understanding the interrelationship of environmental hazards, genetics, and health will provide the information that is needed to formulate regulatory policies, prioritize public health controls, and educate the medical community and the public on how best to mitigate particular environmental exposures. Progress on these fronts would be slow or impossible without public/private partnerships like the one involving Harvard, the University of Michigan, and Bioserve.”

The current study could serve as a model for future investigation into the relationship of genetics to other environmental hazards and diseases.  Dr. Hu’s lab is also studying the relationship of lead exposure to such diseases as Alzheimers and diabetes, and the health impacts of other metallic pollutants.

According to Rama Modali, Chief Executive Officer of BioServe, “We are excited to play an important role in this landmark health study. Our genotyping studies will contribute to the Indian and international biomedical communities’ further understanding of the dynamics between lead exposure and chronic diseases, as well as genetic polymorphisms that increase the risk of environmentally induced disease.”

The overall study, now in the third of three years, is funded with a grant from The John E. Fogarty International Center– the international component of the National Institutes of Health– which addresses global health challenges through innovative and collaborative research and training programs.  Results are expected in about a year.

About BioServe

BioServe delivers a complete ‘biomaterial to validated data’ genomics solution. BioServe’s rapid, economical processing and analyses of genomic content from biological samples helps researchers worldwide to gain the pre-clinical genomic results required to achieve breakthroughs in research, drug discovery and molecular diagnostics.  BioServe’s technology, products and services form the foundation for optimal pre-clinical workflows spanning innovative methodologies for processing nucleic acids, DNA synthesis, high throughput sequencing and genotyping, genome wide-scans and gene expression analyses.  BioServe’s customers include leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and government and academic research institutions. BioServe has headquarters in Laurel, MD and Hyderabad, India. For more information please visit www.bioserve.com or call 301-470-3362.

LANCASTER, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Simulations Plus, Inc. (AMEX:SLP), a leading provider of simulation and modeling software for pharmaceutical discovery and development, announced today that it has received a purchase order for a 5-year license for its ClassPharmer™ software for the National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) in Japan.

Ron Creeley, vice president of marketing and sales for Simulations Plus, said: “We’re very pleased and honored that the NIHS has selected ClassPharmer for its work in generating chemically relevant classification of compounds in its research. A user of the former ClassPharmer 3.5 software from Bioreason that we acquired last year, the NIHS has been using the new ClassPharmer 4.1 version since early this year and has been enjoying the dramatic increase in speed and utility of the new program. We believe that the example set by the NIHS may serve to motivate additional Japanese companies to join those already using ClassPharmer in their discovery research.”

Momoko Beran, chief financial officer and director of human relations for the Company, noted: “As we have announced earlier, under our new policy for revenue recognition for multi-year contracts, we will recognize the revenue from this order ratably over the next five years. This practice will smooth out the lumpiness we experienced in earlier years when revenues from multi-year contracts were recognized up front.”

About Simulations Plus, Inc.

Simulations Plus, Inc. is a premier developer of groundbreaking drug discovery and development simulation software, which is licensed to and used in the conduct of drug research by major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. We have two other businesses that are based on our proprietary technologies: a wholly owned subsidiary, Words+, Inc., which provides assistive technologies to persons with disabilities; and an educational software series for science students in middle and high schools known as FutureLab^™. For more information, visit our Web site at www.simulations-plus.com.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 – With the exception of historical information, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The actual future results of the Company could differ significantly from those statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the ability of the Company to maintain its competitive advantage, the general economics of the pharmaceutical industry, the ability of the Company to finance growth, and a sustainable market. Further information on the Company’s risk factors is contained in the Company’s quarterly and annual reports as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.