Eagle Genomics in Cambridge UK and Cycle Computing in New York have jointly won a competitive bid by the Pistoia Alliance to support the development of a proof-of-concept (PoC) system to meet the future needs of pharmaceutical R & D IT.

A four-month project, the Eagle Genomics & Cycle Computing proof-of-concept system is one of three accepted proposals out of a field of 11 total RFP submissions. A commercial release of the Sequencing Analysis Platform is expected by mid-2012.

The Pistoia Alliance, a global, not-for-profit, pre-competitive alliance of life science companies, vendors, publishers, and academic groups, with a vision for the future of managing and sharing pre-competitive pharmaceutical genomics R & D data, has created detailed requirements under the banner of Sequence Services Phase 2.

The system, with a number of add-ons for analysing this data through the use of standard bioinformatics tools and custom workflows, must ensure that each customer using it is completely confident that their data will remain private and confidential.

Building on Cycle Computing's extensive experience in securing and scaling large-data applications in the cloud, combined with Eagle Genomic's enviable track record in delivering bioinformatics applications and workflows to 8 out of 10 top global pharmaceutical companies, the joint Eagle/Cycle project is on track to be a robust, scalable, and highly adaptable solution that meets the vast majority of current Pistoia member needs, plus many of their future ones.

David Flanders, CEO of Eagle Genomics, said: “The Pistoia Alliance’s vision in recognising the significance of disruptive technologies and associated new business models presents a superb showcase for the talents of Cycle Computing and Eagle Genomics to provide open innovation solutions to customers in the pharmaceutical sector – and beyond.”

The proof-of-concept system for the Sequencing Analysis Platform will be delivered and demonstrated at the annual Pistoia Alliance Conference, to be held in March in Boston, MA. The award carries 25 per cent of an overall $200K allocated by Pistoia.

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: David Flanders, CEO, Eagle Genomics