Jérôme Wojcik, former director of bioinformatics at Merck Serono, is starting a new company, Quartz Bio, to do biomarker data management and exploratory biomarker analysis services that will be supported under Merck Serono's Entrepreneur Partnership Program, reports PharmaTimes. The program was set up as part of the company's support for employees leaving Merck Serono as it closes its Geneva headquarters as part of a cost-cutting move. Wojcik is taking four other Merck Serono scientists with knowledge of bioinformatics and experience in drug-development processes, PharmaTimes reports. Merck Serono already has pledged it will buy €2 million ($2.5 million) worth of services from Quartz Bio in the next two or three years. Wojcik says he believes that more pharmaceutical companies are integrating a stratified medicine approach into their drug-development processes and biomarker analysis is at the "heart" of that. Story | More