Red Herring reports that Microsoft has established a BioIT initiative with Affymetrix, Accelrys, Applied Biosystems, Scripps Institute and other partners to facilitate collaborative drug development. The ultimate goal is to promote efficient processes for personalized therapies. (Red Herring's article also points out the "pragmatic altruism" involved, since Microsoft Office, Windows Presentation, and SharePoint, would be a key part of the platform.)
But the project's worthy goal is a platform that would make it easier and more efficient for drug development specialists, wherever they're based, to transfer information.
In a recent survey by Ken Morris and Conformia, published in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, data access and transfer, and knowledge management, were cited as a major drawback to new drug applications.
