Cambridge, MA - November 29, 2011: Relay Technology Management, Inc., and Nature Publishing Group (NPG) today announce a collaborative partnership, in which NPG will make a strategic investment in Relay. Relay are building a unique software platform that will provide next generation predictive analytics to the transactional licensing markets in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Relay are currently recruiting beta testers for a flagship product which will launch in early 2012.
Licensing science and technology from biotechnology companies and academic laboratories is a large and fast growing part of the drug discovery and development process, with large pharmaceutical companies in-licensing the majority of their pipelines. Identifying and evaluating assets and finding the most appropriate partners is a time-consuming and resource intensive process, involving the integration of multiple data points from a myriad of different sources. The complexity of the task can easily lead to data overload and inefficient decision making, in even the most well funded business development groups.
Relay's software platform is designed to combat these problems by using computational tools and text mining alongside proprietary algorithms to automate the data collection and initial evaluation stages. The Relay approach will free up time and resources within buy and sell-side business development teams to focus on in-depth analysis of the important deal parameters.
"We are excited to be entering into a partnership with Nature Publishing Group, the pre-eminent provider of content for the scientific community," said David Greenwald, Ph.D. CEO and Co-founder of Relay Technology Management, Inc. "Not only is Relay gaining an experienced strategic investor with domain expertise but also a partner with a strong potential for long-term synergies between our platforms."
"There is widespread acknowledgement of the need to improve the translation of early-stage research from academia and biotechnology companies into new medicines of real value. The Relay approach will bring efficiency and objectivity to this process and so help to fuel the future of the drug discovery," said Peter Collins, Business Intelligence Director, Nature Publishing Group. "We are delighted to welcome Relay to NPG and are confident that Relay's innovative approach and strong entrepreneurial spirit will complement SciBX: Science Business eXchange, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, and our other products in this area."
For more information or to register interest in becoming a beta tester, contact Relay Technology Management: http://relaytm.com/contact/
About Relay Technology Management, Inc.
Relay Technology Management (Relay) is a software analytics company focused on the life sciences industry. Relay's proprietary platform, The Relay Innovation Engine, aggregates scientific and market data in real-time and provides competitive business intelligence to Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical companies and University Technology Transfer Offices. The Relay Innovation Engine analytics platform enables identification of scientific and market trends in drug development in a way never before captured or visualized. Relay provides decision support and data interaction through a software-as-a-service platform to both business and research professionals in the life sciences industry. Relay was an award-winning finalist in the MassChallenge global competition. Relay is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
About Nature Publishing Group (NPG)
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific and medical information. NPG publishes journals, online databases and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences and clinical medicine.
Focusing on the needs of scientists, Nature (founded in 1869) is the leading weekly, international scientific journal. In addition, for this audience, NPG publishes a range of Nature research journals and Nature Reviews journals, plus a range of prestigious academic journals including society-owned publications. Online, nature.com provides over 5 million visitors per month with access to NPG publications and online databases and services, including news and comment from Nature and NatureJobs plus access to Nature Network and Nature Education's Scitable.com.
Scientific American is at the heart of Nature Publishing Group's consumer media division, meeting the needs of the general public.
Throughout all its businesses NPG is dedicated to serving the scientific and medical communities and the wider scientifically interested general public. Part of Macmillan Publishers Limited, NPG is a global company with principal offices in London, New York and Tokyo, and offices in cities worldwide including Boston, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Heidelberg, Basingstoke, Melbourne, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul and Washington DC. For more information, please go to www.nature.com.