Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq "MSFT") has signed an agreement with Merck & Co. Inc. to acquire certain assets of Rosetta Biosoftware, a business unit of Rosetta Inpharmatics LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck & Co. Inc. The deal allows Microsoft to incorporate genetic, genomic, metabolomic and proteomics data management software into the Microsoft Amalga Life Sciences platform for enhanced translational research capabilities. In addition, Microsoft will establish a strategic relationship with Merck to enhance the Amalga Life Sciences platform to meet emerging pharmaceutical research needs.
Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will become a customer of the Microsoft Amalga Life Sciences 2009 platform and also will provide strategic input to Microsoft on the direction and evolution of new solutions incorporating Rosetta Biosoftware technologies. The software platform will help drive improvements in Merck's already advanced research capabilities.
"This agreement establishes a stable and sustainable platform for the Rosetta Biosoftware technology. In addition, we look forward to collaborating with Microsoft to develop new bioinformatic solutions to enable and expedite drug discovery and development," said Rupert Vessey, vice president, Merck Research Laboratories. "This is part of our previously announced strategy designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our Basic Research operations to ensure long-term pipeline productivity."
"We're excited to collaborate with Merck and augment the capabilities of Amalga Life Sciences with the complementary assets of Rosetta Biosoftware," said Peter Neupert, corporate vice president, Health Solutions Group, Microsoft. "The newly combined offering will enable customers to improve the management and analysis of genomic, biological and research data, helping to bring lifesaving drugs and therapies to market faster and accelerate the realization of personalized medicine."
Introduced in April 2009, Microsoft Amalga Life Sciences is a new software platform designed to transform health and life sciences research data into the critical knowledge needed for the discovery of new treatments. The platform helps organizations across the life sciences spectrum accelerate research and discovery efforts by automating the management and analysis of massive, heterogeneous research data. This gives scientists and researchers the opportunity to redesign, manage and control research processes to increase productivity, reduce errors and improve decision-making.
The deal is expected to close at the end of June 2009, and the new Amalga Life Sciences platform incorporating Rosetta Biosoftware technologies is slated to be available in early 2010. Microsoft is pursuing hiring Rosetta Biosoftware employees who can fill roles that are critical to the effective incorporation of Rosetta Biosoftware technologies into the Amalga Life Sciences platform. Until the deal is closed, Rosetta Biosoftware will continue to operate as a business unit of Rosetta Inpharmatics LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck.
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