CAMBRIDGE, U.K. & GUILDFORD, U.K.—In September, Optibrium and The Edge Software Consultancy, a company focused on developing software products and services for drug discovery and development, announced their collaboration to provide an integrated solution linking the StarDrop and BioRails platforms. This combination will reportedly provide a seamless drug discovery workflow linking the latest research data directly from the lab through to decision-making regarding the next round of synthesis and testing. Ultimately this will reduce the time and cost currently spent identifying new optimization strategies and target high-quality compounds.

 

Designed to address a range of workflow-driven research activities, BioRails can be used to design flexible processes and workflows for capturing experimental data, defining the procedures used to reliably capture high-quality information. The platform allows scientists to use the system across the full range of scientific investigations, from routine activities such as ADME to more exploratory research such as in-vivo behavioral studies, by separating design from execution, thus providing separation between the plan and reality. 

 

To complement the ability BioRails gives organizations to optimize the generation of high-quality biological results stored in a dedicated data mart, StarDrop brings comprehensive capabilities for compound design, optimization and data analysis. This ensures that project teams have instant access to the latest data on their compounds and can use them effectively, leading to better decisions and shorter project timelines. Selecting compounds based on incomplete or out-of-date information or designing new compounds without the latest results can lead to wasted time and effort, and the challenge for decision-makers has become greater because research teams are able to provide access to more screening data at increasing speed. Providing users with seamless access to the most recent data within an integrated platform has become vital to ensuring that data can be visualized and analyzed, enabling discovery project teams to make effective, data-driven decisions.

 

Following a spin-out from a big pharma company, a mutual client was establishing a new informatics system for their research and development teams, and it was this client who approached Optibrium about using the StarDrop program with The Edge’s BioRails database for storing and handling their biological data. A tight integration between the two platforms was vital to the client to streamline their drug discovery process. The collaboration was established quickly, as the companies share similar approaches to providing clients with high-quality support, and the integration process was able to be completed within the customer’s established timeline and budget. 

 

Dr. Matthew Segall, CEO of Optibrium, commented: “We know that gaining convenient access to the latest data and using them to make good optimization decisions is a challenge, particularly in smaller organizations without an established informatics infrastructure, and this collaboration enables us to provide a complete solution to their needs.”

 

“We were impressed with the design elements of Optibrium’s solutions, which rely on access to high-quality results. The complementary aspects of our solutions were clear and our experience of working together to the benefit of our customers has been very positive. We look forward to bringing this capability to many more organizations, large and small,” said Dr. Andrew Lemon, CEO of The Edge. 

 

The integration of BioRails with StarDrop has been completed and is available to the companies' mutual customers immediately. Due to its customizable nature, Optibrium and The Edge are already working on such projects for other clients.