New Approach for Integrating R&D Data and Workflows Gains Momentum in Pharmaceutical Industry.

More Companies Migrating to MDL([R]) Isentris([R]) to Boost Productivity, Reduce Costs and Give Scientists More Control

SAN RAMON, Calif. -- More than 75 pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical companies have licensed the new, open-technology MDL([R]) Isentris([R]) system to address common R&D challenges, Elsevier MDL has announced. Leading research companies turning to the new-generation Isentris system include more than half of Elsevier MDL's top 30 customers.

The announcement came during a forum hosted by Elsevier MDL for research and IT executives from around the world to address strategies and new informatics technology for reducing R&D timelines, cutting costs and improving productivity.

"For more than a decade, almost every major pharmaceutical company has relied upon the current-standard, MDL([R]) ISIS([R]) technology in their labs," said President and CEO Lars Barfod, Elsevier MDL. "Many companies are now seeing the potential to realize significantly better results from their operations by migrating to Isentris. The recent Isentris 2.0 release far surpasses ISIS and competitive systems in terms of functionality, performance and lower cost of ownership."

With Isentris, organizations are giving scientists easier access to relevant data in the course of their normal workflows, and are facilitating coordination of the tools and capabilities needed to make decisions on that data. Isentris includes .NET controls for rapidly building customized, easy-to-use research environments with powerful scientific capabilities.

"The growing migration to Isentris reflects a new era, an 'Informatics 2.0' for scientists," said Dr. Trevor Heritage, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Elsevier MDL. "Researchers have control to create and access the specific views of data they need to answer questions and test hypotheses immediately -- without relying on IT support."

In a case study cited in the executive forum, a European pharmaceutical company that migrated to Isentris from ISIS praised the system's much improved integration and ease-of-use, and scientists' new ability to access biological assay data, chemistry and other experimental and calculated data as soon as it is created.

An example of Isentris performance and cost-saving advantages is improved operation over wide area networks (WAN) that connect geographically remote labs. On a WAN, Isentris lets scientists perform common tasks like browsing chemical records 15 times faster than ISIS, and retrieve searches two to three times faster. This speed makes WAN configurations practical for many organizations with multi-site operations, which in turn offer a path to significant cost savings.

More information about Isentris, including presentations from the executive roundtable session, white papers and case studies are available on www.mdl.com/executive.

About Elsevier MDL

Elsevier MDL provides informatics, database and workflow solutions that accelerate successful scientific R&D by improving the speed and quality of scientists' decision making. Researchers around the world depend on Elsevier MDL for innovative and reliable discovery informatics software solutions and services. For more information, visit www.mdl.com.

MDL and Isentris are registered trademarks of MDL Information Systems, Inc. ('Elsevier MDL') in the United States. All rights reserved. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.