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Synt:em
by Andrew Lloyd 18 Dec '97

18 Dec '97

Drug discovery specialist Synt:em completes $4.4 million financing Venture capital firms provide finance for Synt:em's growth plans Nîmes, December 17, 1997--Synt:em announces today the completion of a new round of financing to support the next stage of company growth. The company now has the support of two international venture firms, Apax Partners and Banexi Ventures, both of which have significant experience in biotechnology and healthcare. New investments of approximately $3.4 million, bring the capital to something over $4.25 million. Synt:em has also obtained a more than $1 million innovation grant from French government agency, ANVAR, which will be reimbursed when the project is successfully completed.. The new funds will be used in particular for the development of Synt:em's proprietary Pep:Trans technology. Pep:Trans is based on new peptide-derived vectors able to cross membranes. This allows therapeutic molecules to be delivered to intracellular targets with greatly increased efficacy. Pep:Trans is expected to overcome a common drug discovery problem where molecules are found to be extremely effective in vitro but which fail in vivo. This is due in particular to low bioavailability (the length of time the molecule remains in human tissue) or inability to pass through biological membranes. Using Pep:Trans will both increase the effectiveness of drug delivery and allow the administration of smaller doses. Pep:Trans takes full advantage of Synt:em's "In Silico Screening", a technology platform based on chemical synthesis and molecular modelling that has been under development at Synt:em for more than two years. Current shareholders are now: Apax Partners, Banexi, investors from earlier rounds (Soridec, Sofimac, Sofilaro, Mistral Investissement), who also participated in the capital increase, private investors ("angels") and management. "Apax Partners and Banexi bring the company additional international experience in analysing the biotechnology market, offering an outside perspective on Synt:em's strategy and facilitating connections or partnerships with other companies in the business," said Michel Kaczorek, president and ceo of Synt:em. "In addition, they have approved a capital structure that retains management incentives by allowing the latter to conserve a significant part of the capital." "We are very pleased to support the development of one of the most innovative companies in drug discovery," said Dr Laurent Ganem, Partner at Apax Partners, and President of the Conseil de Surveillance of Syntem. "The current molecular modelling capabilities of Synt:em are quite impressive, and we are much excited about the intracellular drug delivery research program that is being carried out, for which we believe the products will have broad application." "Synt:em has built an outstanding drug discovery platform with an unprecedented combination of skills and which is already validated by several pharmaceutical contracts," said Sophie Pierrin-Lépinard, Banexi Ventures Partner. "We are very proud to share this exciting new step of the company. Synt:em fits perfectly with our current porfolio." About Apax... Apax Partners provides equity funding and corporate finance advice to entrepreneurial businesses internationally. The Group manages nearly $3 billion of private equity funds, over $400 million of which is managed in France, and invests across the spectrum of early stage, expansion capital, management buy-out and buy-in opportunities out of thirteen offices. Biotechnology and Health Care are privileged fields of investment for Apax Partners. Examples of investments completed in Europe and in the United States include: Effik, IDM, NicOx, PPL Therapeutics, Scotia, Creative Biomolecules. Cytyc. About Banexi... Banexi Ventures is the venture capital arm of Banexi, a fully owned subsidiary of BNP (Banque Nationale de Paris). Banexi Group has invested 525 million French francs ($88 million) in 180 venture capital deals over the last 14 years, in three main areas : Information technology, semiconductors and Life Sciences. Examples of investments based on technology platforms: Biovector Therapeutics (drug delivery), IDM (cell therapy), Neurotech (cell-based gene therapy). About Synt:em Synt:em specialises in the discovery of new therapeutic molecules using state-of-the-art tools in the field of structural biology, and molecular modelling and synthesis. Since it was founded in 1995, the company has focussed on two complementary technologies: 1. Research tools and services, particularly in peptide synthesis. 2. Contract research for the design and synthesis of new therapeutic molecules. Synt:em is already active in international markets, particularly in the USA. It is located close to Montpellier, giving it easy access to one of the world's leading centres of peptide expertise. Synt:em currently employs 16 people, including 12 doctors of science and engineers. The company can count on the know-how and experience of more than 80 researchers through a number of partnership agreements signed with leading laboratories in the fields of cellular and structural biology, modelling and pharmacology. Synt:em's revenues in its first accounting period to 31 December 1996 were 2.45 million francs (about $410,000). Forecast revenues for 1997 are 5 million francs ($830,000). The company continues actively to seek partnerships with industry to extend the applicability of its technology to other therapeutic areas. Brighton Business Centre 221 bd Raspail 95 Ditchling Road 75014 Paris Brighton BN1 4ST France England Tel: +44-1273 675100 Tel: +33-1 43 22 79 56 Fax: +44-1273 675400 Fax: +33-1 43 20 90 92 email: allo(a)ala.com OR ala-france(a)ala.com (For ALA Paris office only) OR ala(a)pavilion.co.uk (For ALA UK office only) INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY MARKETS STRATEGY & COMMUNICATIONS chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Changed dates MDL meeting 1998
by Dr. Wendy A. Warr 18 Dec '97

18 Dec '97

Correction to my earlier posting. The 1998 European MDL Software Users Group Meeting will NOT take place in October as originally planned. It is now scheduled for November 9 - 11, 1998. We hope that this will not cause problems. The Nimes meeting is unchanged - October 18-21. Apologies for duplicate postings Wendy -- Dr Wendy A Warr Wendy Warr & Associates, 6 Berwick Court Holmes Chapel, Cheshire CW4 7HZ, England Tel/fax +44 (0)1477 533837 wendy(a)warr.com http://www.warr.com chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Oxford Molecular invests in HTS specialist Cambridge Drug Discovery
by Andrew Lloyd (laptop) 17 Dec '97

17 Dec '97

Please find attached a release which maybe of interest. 17th December, 1997 OXFORD MOLECULAR GROUP PLC Investment in Cambridge Drug Discovery Limited The Board of Oxford Molecular Group PLC ("Oxford Molecular") announces that it has entered into an agreement to invest up to a total of £5.0 million (UK pounds)in cash in Cambridge Drug Discovery Limited ("Cambridge Drug Discovery" or the "Company"). Cambridge Drug Discovery is a new service company which will specialise in providing advanced high-throughput screening ("HTS") services for customers, ranging from large pharmaceutical groups to small biotech companies. HTS is an automated process which allows large numbers of chemical compounds to be rapidly tested for potential therapeutic activity, a critical step in the discovery of new drugs. Through a close collaboration with Cambridge Drug Discovery, Oxford Molecular will provide a fully integrated drug design, synthesis and screening service for discovery research. Cambridge Drug Discovery was recently established by four senior pharmaceutical research scientists who are former employees of Pfizer and independent of Oxford Molecular. All have expertise in HTS covering a wide range of therapeutic areas. Using state-of-the-art HTS robotic technology combined with novel drug targets derived from academic collaborations, Cambridge Drug Discovery aims to establish a leading position in the market for outsourced HTS services. The Company will have the capacity to screen up to 100,000 compounds a day from the customers' own libraries of chemical compounds against either novel or non-proprietary targets. The Company will also design HTS assays for customers and provide a range of related HTS consultancy services. Following the investment, Cambridge Drug Discovery will work closely with members of the Oxford Molecular Group. The Company's services will be sold through Oxford Molecular's sales network in Europe, the US and the Far East, for which the Company will pay an allocation of overheads. Oxford Molecular will also make available to Cambridge Drug Discovery its advanced HTS and data management software packages, RS3 DiscoveryTM, RS3 Discovery HTSTM and CSAP, on standard commercial terms. Most importantly, day-to-day collaboration between Cambridge Drug Discovery, Oxford Molecular and Cambridge Combinatorial Limited, the Group's specialist combinatorial chemistry partner, will provide customers with an integrated drug discovery service encompassing design, synthesis and screening. Under the terms of the agreement, Oxford Molecular is subscribing £2.0 million in cash for 19.99 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital of Cambridge Drug Discovery. The remaining 80.01 per cent. has been subscribed for by the founders of the Company. In addition, Oxford Molecular has committed to invest up to a further £2.0 million in cash by way of a secured loan and up to a further £1.0 million in cash by way of preference shares. The total investment of up to £5.0 million will be financed from the Group's existing cash resources. In the event of a trade sale or flotation of the Company, a number of the preference shares will convert into ordinary shares, bringing Oxford Molecular's total holding of Cambridge Drug Discovery's issued ordinary share capital to 30.00 per cent. The agreement also gives Oxford Molecular the right, but not the obligation, to acquire the remaining 80.01 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital of Cambridge Drug Discovery in either three or four years. The valuation of the Company at such time will be based on the greater of three times the previous year's revenue or fifteen times the relevant year's net profit. Should the Board of Oxford Molecular decide to exercise the option, the consent of shareholders will be sought at that time, if required by the Listing Rules of the London Stock Exchange. Dr. Tony Marchington, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Molecular, said today: "We are delighted to announce this important strategic investment in Cambridge Drug Discovery. We believe that it represents the next step in developing our position as one of the leading providers of drug discovery services worldwide. The combination of Oxford Molecular's software and drug design expertise, Cambridge Combinatorial's chemical synthesis skills and Cambridge Drug Discovery's advanced screening capabilities will provide customers with a highly cost effective method of accelerating the drug discovery process. The team at Cambridge Drug Discovery has substantial experience in these technologies, and we believe that our new association with the Company represents a winning combination." Press enquiries Oxford Molecular Group PLC, Oxford Tony Marchington +44-1865 784 600 Oxford Molecular Group, Inc., USA Suzanne Mattingly +1 408 879 6300 Baring Brothers International Limited Douglas Brown +44-171 767 1000 Andrew Lloyd & Associates Ltd Andrew Lloyd +44-1273 675100 chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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PM3 + AM1
by Daniel Chapman 09 Dec '97

09 Dec '97

Does anybody know of a good review comparing the parameterisation of PM3 and AM1 for second row elements? Thanks Daniel Chapman chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Re: News for academic Beilstein users in UK and Scandinavia
by Julie Altmann 09 Dec '97

09 Dec '97

Henry Rzepa wrote: >I note also that Elsevier have announced they are acquiring Beilstein. Academics have already access to Beilstein from the MIDAS online service. For information see: http://midas.ac.uk/crossfire Julie Altmann -- Dr. J. A. Altmann Department of Chemistry King's College London Strand Tel. (0171) 873 2767 (UK) London WC2R 2LS Tel. +44 171 873 2767 (International) England Fax: (0171) 873 2810 chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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News for academic Beilstein users in UK and Scandinavia
by Yvonne Schickel 09 Dec '97

09 Dec '97

PRESS RELEASES (8th December, 1997) Beilstein Informationssysteme GmbH (http://www.beilstein.com) e-mail: sbriggs(a)beilstein.com CHEST (http://www.chest.ac.uk) e-mail: chest(a)chest.ac.uk MIDAS (http://midas.ac.uk) e-mail: info(a)midas.ac.uk Both CHEST and MIDAS are supported by JISC, the Joint Information Systems Committee of the UK Higher Education Funding Councils (http://www.jisc.ac.uk) For Immediate Release *************************************** JISC supports major upgrades to national UK service provided by MIDAS for Beilsteins CrossFire System Frankfurt / Bath / Manchester - JISC (the Joint Information Systems Committee of the UK Higher Education Funding Councils), CHEST and Beilstein Informationssysteme GmbH have agreed a package of major enhancements to the CrossFire System run by MIDAS. The new datasets will include the Abstracts addition, the new Excel client, AutoNom (Beilstein's IUPAC naming software), and, in the middle of 98, the EcoPharm Database. ************************************* Beilstein Information and CHEST UK agree national deals with Sweden and Denmark for the provision of CrossFire and associated datasets Frankfurt / Bath / Manchester - CHEST UK, MIDAS and Beilstein Informationssysteme GmbH have significantly widened the accessibility of the CrossFire datasets through MIDAS (Manchester Information Datasets and Associated Services) by providing access to universities in Sweden and Denmark. ************************************ For complete information, please consult http://www.beilstein.com chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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New Products from Beilstein Information
by Yvonne Schickel 09 Dec '97

09 Dec '97

PRESS RELEASES (8th December, 1997) Beilstein Informationssysteme GmbH Yvonne Schickel (phone: +49-69-7917 410;e-mail: yschickel(a)beilstein.com) Beilstein Information Systems Inc. Timberlyn Cohen (phone: +1-303-397 2968; e-mail: tcohen(a)beilstein.com) For Immediate Release ********************************************* Beilstein Informationssysteme Announces the Release of its CrossFire Software Development Kit (XDK) London, England - Beilstein Informationssysteme GmbH announces the introduction of its CrossFire Software Development Kit (XDK), a major technology advance for CrossFire users. The XDK enables the flexible integration of the existing CrossFire chemical databases - including query and result handling - into the workflow environment of the individual user. Full access to the CrossFire Server can now be achieved by tailor-made client applications based on a collection of function libraries and tools with a uniform programming interface, exactly according to the specifications of the user. ******************************************** Beilstein Informationssysteme Announces Major New Initiative with CrossFire EcoPharm London, England - A major new initiative in the spring of 1998: Beilstein Informationssysteme GmbH will launch CrossFire EcoPharm, a new add-on to the highly popular CrossFireplusReactions Database, recently honoured by Jacques Santer, President of the European Commission, with the award of the 1997 European Information Technology Prize. Fully integrated into the existing CrossFire System, the EcoPharm Database will be indexed from an additional sixty journals from 1995 onwards. It comprises two main sub-areas: ecological and physiological data. ******************************************* For complete information, please consult http://www.beilstein.com chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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"Chemmail": Volunteers please for a global experiment.
by Rzepa, Henry 08 Dec '97

08 Dec '97

In our dept we have been using something which we call chemmail (for lack of a better term) for a little while. In this message, I will briefly explain it, and then perhaps ask if anyone could act to "beta test" to see if it can be deployed perhaps on a wider scale. Many of us are familar with "enclosing" say a Word document with an email message. But this is really a very unsatisfactory way of sending chemical content (eg 2D/3D coordinates, spectra, protein sequences, wavefunctions, etc etc) since Word can only really handle text, or perhaps embeded objects which might or might not be resolved by OLE at the recipients and. To improve matters, one might use a combination of Chime from MDL and say the Netscape messenger 4.04 module. If a chemical data file in one of the so called chemical MIME formats (see http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/chemime ) is attached to a message, a chemical MIME header is automatically added. The recipient of such a message can use Netscape messenger to read the message. The attachement is shown as a hyperlink, and clicking on it invokes Chime to display the molecule, spectrum, surface etc tc. (Chime 2 does all of this). And hey presto, Chemmail is operation. But of course, many people might wish to use stand-alone mailers, such as eg Eudora or Pine. How can Eudora/Pine be trained to speak the same Chemical MIME language? Well, proceed as follows a) On a Mac, place the file http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/chemical10.sea.hqx (after unpacking) into the same folder as your Eudora application. Ensure you are running Eudora 3.0 or 3.1 (lite or Pro). b) On Win Eudora 3.0, add e.g the following lines(s) to the Eudora.ini file present in the same folder as the Eudora.exe file both=pdb,pdb,TEXT,chemical,x-pdb both=mol,mol,TEXT,chemical,x-mdl-molfile (obviously, a complete list of chemical MIME types can be added in this fashion) c) On Unix Pine 3.9+, add e.g. chemical/x-pdb; netscape %s to your .mailcap file and e.g. chemical/x-pdb pdb to your .mime.types file Finally, ensure that on your file system, the filename qualifier ends in eg .pdb if you want to send a Brookhaven file. >From now on, any combination of Eudora/Pine or Netscape Messenger should correctly resolve chemical data files defined by MIME types. Well, that's the theory. We have tested three platforms here (Mac, NT and SGI Irix) and it mostly works. Our only problem is persuading Netscape messenger on SGI to attach the file; it currently rolls it up into the main body of the text. We are pondering this; if anyone has a fix, do let us know! I am now seeking volunteers to a) receive files from us to see if you can correctly resolve them and b) to send files to us to see if we can correctly resolve them. If anyone has proposals for chemical MIME tpyes not handled by the current collection, do please contact me. Suggestions for how other mail handling systems might be persuaded to do this are also welcome (eg Microsoft Exchange, etc etc). Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Reviewing the Reviewers of Chemistry Sites.
by Rzepa, Henry 07 Dec '97

07 Dec '97

Dare I suggest that with the critical mass (and the chaos) of the chemical web now ripe, 1998 looks set to be the "year of the review". Mark Winter has already announced the ChemDex reviews, as has the Internet J. Chemistry, and I am sure they will not be alone. I came across the "EBIG" site, the Encyclopaedia Britannica Internet Guide (www.ebig.com) which purports to offer high quallity reviews of around 65,000 sites. It appears that in the area of chemistry, they have selected perhaps 15-20 sites, but to me at least, along with recognised ones, there were one or two idiosyncratic ones to say the least. My "review" of their review would rate them quite poorly. No doubt chemists will get their house in order in 1998, but it will be interesting to see how the dust settles. Even more interestingly, is whether these site reviews will charge the user! So I await with relish the first site to offer reviews of the reviewers!! Henry Rzepa. +44 171 594 5774 (Office) +44 594 5804 (Fax) chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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ANNOUNCE: Elemental Discoveries
by David Bradley Science Writer 05 Dec '97

05 Dec '97

ELEMENTAL DISCOVERIES http://www.camsoft.com/elemental/ CambridgeSoft are now hosting Elemental Discoveries so we have a new URL, a search engine and a Thank You screen for anyone using the feedback forms! The December issue features: One in the eye for vitamin A Vaccines ain't what they used to be Green tea against cancer Thanks David Bradley Bradley(a)enterprise.net http://www.camsoft.com/elemental/ PS You can still access ED through the old URL but please update your bookmarks when you get a chance. chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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