German biological database eyes Asian market

By K. T. Jagannathan

HAMBURG, (GERMANY), APRIL 5. Having made an aggressive foray into the U.S. market, Biobase, a German company, which specialises in providing biological database using bio-informatics, has cast its eyes on the Asian market.

Stating that ``Japan is an important market for us,'' Dr. Edgar Wingender, president of the company, told a team of visiting journalists from Asia at its office in Braunschweig recently that Biobase had sort of trained its eyes on China and South Korea as well. In China, it had a running co-operative arrangement with Beizing university. ``We have also established contacts in South Korea,'' he said without elaborating.

Claimed to be the only such company in the world dealing with content relating to gene regulation, Biobase typically provides pharmaceutical companies sequence information about transcription regulating switch elements in the genome. Further, using bio- informatics, it provides software application solutions. For example, it can provide biological information such as when, where and under what conditions certain genes are suppressed or activated.

Simultaneously, relying on bio-informatics, Biobase will be in a position to develop data base, structure the content and supply to users. ``Nearly all pharmaceutical companies are engaged in genome-based development work of one kind or the other,'' said Dr. Wingender. ``If some one wants to develop a drug for a specific effect, we can tell them which cell will be attacked without going wrong,'' he pointed out. In fact, companies like Smithkline Beacham and Monsanto are among its clients.

What could be the inputs for such a company? Data from gene banks, literature on original research and the like form the raw material for Biobase. The mass generated data are then handled, processed and interpreted with the help of a team of biologists using software and other tools. It has a running tie-up with the Biotechnology Research Centre of Germany which is currently engaged in the human genome project.

``No company deals with contents relating to gene regulation,'' declared Dr. Wingender who expected the company's turnover to increase five-fold during 2001 from DM 1.5 million last year. The market for bio informatics was worth several billion dollars, he said. Out of this, the genome-related segment alone was worth 40 per cent. Dr. Wingender would be happy if Biobase could garner 10 per cent of this market over time.

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