Full Press Release Details
Sciences, a Subsidiary of BioTime, Announces Partnership with Appistry
will integrate critical sources of genetic and disease information into
Appistry's next-generation sequencing ("NGS") reports for clinicians
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2013--LifeMap Sciences,
Inc., a subsidiary of BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT:BTX), announced today a
collaborative partnership and value-added reseller agreement with
Appistry, Inc., which provides big-data computing that supports
life-science and medical analytics at hospitals and medical research
centers and organizations. The intent of the partnership is to integrate
LifeMap's GeneCards and MalaCards
databases of human genes and diseases into the DNA and RNA sequence
analysis outputs and reports produced by Appistry's leading-edge Ayrris
computing environment. Appistry will market reports that include the GeneCards
and MalaCards data to clinicians and researchers under a revenue
share arrangement with LifeMap, based on sales of such reports.
Current U.S. annual spending on genetic testing and molecular
diagnostics according to a UnitedHealthcare 2012 report (http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/~/media/UHG/PDF/2012/UNH-Working-Paper-7.ashx
) is at least $3-$4 billion annually. Today's healthcare eco-system is
increasingly dependent on genetic testing and molecular diagnostics,
particularly as the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS)
technologies have enabled a substantial reduction in the costs
associated with gene sequencing, enabling rapid sequencing of the DNA of
individual patients. Labs and hospitals cite analysis of NGS data as a
primary bottleneck to leveraging genetic information to better diagnose
disease, assess treatment options, and develop the targeted therapies
that will enable personalized medicine, an expanding field in which
medical decisions, practices, and therapeutic products are being
tailored to the individual patient based on their own genes.
Appistry's Ayrris computing environment supports the rapid assembly of
complex, data-intensive analytics that run a customer's choice of
open-source, commercial, and proprietary tools at scale without
requiring specialized expertise in high-performance computing or a
complex software development effort. Under the partnership, Appistry
will deliver access to data from LifeMap's GeneCards
and MalaCards databases within the pipeline results and
personalized medicine reports provided by its Ayrris life science
solutions and services. GeneCards , the human
gene compendium, provides concise genomic information on all known and
predicted human genes, including gene-disease associations, variants and
single nucleotide polymorphisms, gene function and other fields of
interest. MalaCards, the human disease database, contains
information relating to a wide array of human diseases and the roles of
genes in disease processes. LifeMap Sciences holds the exclusive
worldwide license to market GeneCards and MalaCards
from Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd., the commercial arm of
the Weizmann Institute of Science.
"One of the biggest limitations on using next-generation sequencing in
clinical settings is the ability to effectively translate raw sequence
data into medically meaningful results," said Kevin Haar, CEO of
Appistry. "To realize the promise of personalized medicine,
organizations need to scale their bioinformatics pipelines to handle
thousands of patient cases, while also providing information physicians
can act on. Our partnership with LifeMap enables medical researchers to
extend their analytic processes to deliver a better understanding of the
biological pathways and disease states associated with genetic samples."
"We expect LifeMap Sciences to be the leading source of gene and disease
information for clinicians and patients in the rapidly growing fields of
molecular diagnostics, prevention and personalized medicine," said David
Warshawsky, Ph.D., CEO of LifeMap. "The combination of GeneCards
and MalaCards comprehensive gene and disease related knowledge
with the end-to-end NGS analysis workflow offered by Appistry will
greatly enhance the potential for improved diagnosis, prevention, and
treatment of devastating conditions."
Appistry (www.appistry.com) orchestrates solutions to big data
problems, and since 2001, the company's fabric technology has empowered
organizations and researchers to transform vast data into actionable
intelligence. Appistry weaves together high-performance computing and
analytics to provide the throughput and scale required for diverse
applications-from discovering new medical therapies to delivering
overnight packages, gaining clarity from financial transactions, or
deciphering military satellite images. In 2012, Appistry was selected by
the Broad Institute as the exclusive distributor of the GATK for use in
for-profit settings.
About LifeMap Sciences, Inc.
LifeMap Sciences' (www.lifemapsc.com) core technology and
business is based on its integrated database suite, the discovery
platform for biomedical and stem cell research. This platform includes GeneCards ,
the leading human gene database; LifeMap Discovery , the database
of embryonic development, stem cell research and regenerative medicine;
and MalaCards, the human disease database. According to Google
Analytics, the sites have generated more than 2,000,000 unique visitors
with more than 13,000,000 page views in the past 12 months. LifeMap
Sciences also markets PanDaTox, an innovative, recently
developed, searchable database that can aid in the discovery of new
antibiotics and biotechnologically beneficial products.
In addition to database offerings, LifeMap Sciences is BioTime's
principal marketing subsidiary for research products, including PureStem
human progenitor cell lines, GMP human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines, ESpan
growth media for progenitor cell lines, and cell differentiation media
for non-therapeutic uses, via its LifeMap BioReagents portal.
LifeMap Sciences utilizes its databases as part of its online marketing
strategy to reach life sciences researchers at biotech and
pharmaceutical companies and at academic institutions and research
hospitals worldwide.
In a therapeutic discovery collaboration with BioTime, LifeMap's
scientists utilize LifeMap's proprietary platform, including LifeMap
Discovery , its stem cell database along with the GeneCards
and MalaCards integrated database suite, to aid in the
development of BioTime's proprietary PureStem human
progenitor cell lines into products for the treatment of human diseases,