Systems biology pioneer Entelos today announced the purchase of Discovery Innovations, a provider of IT integration and knowledge management products and services. Among other things, Entelos plans to use DI technology to help turn its PhysioLab modeling platform into a more generalized tool that could be offered to a broader market. DI will become a division of Entelos and continue to offer its services and products.

Historically Entelos developed a handful of custom PhysioLabs for specific diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma. Revenue was largely derived from research collaborations in which its proprietary bio-simulation models were used to help clients prioritize drug targets and compounds, identify biomarkers, and more recently to identify responder from non-responder profiles for use in patient selection for clinical trials.

Making its modeling technology available on something akin to a “seat-based model” would be a significant change. Entelos president James Karis recently talked to Bio-IT World about the model-maker’s growing aspirations to expand beyond the services-for-fee box and to participate more directly in drug development profits (see “Entelos’ Lofty Aspirations,” Bio-IT World, March 2005). He cited Entelos’ recent co-development and co-marketing deal with Organon as an example Entelos’ successful push in that direction.

The new move to sell seats could be seen as a diversionary since it has been a problematic business model for many informatics companies. LION Biosciences is the most recent example of a troubled informatics concern selling off assets. Yet Ingenuity Systems, another systems biology company, seems to be making the software licensing model work. It should be noted there are significant differences between Ingenuity’s and Entelos’ technology and approach.

Entelos co-founder and chief technology officer Alex Bangs says the DI acquisition and wider availability of PhysioLab is a natural expansion for Entelos. He argues the growing number of successful engagements with pharma by modeling companies, including Entelos, has increased the industry’s confidence in modeling and stirred its appetite for more tools: “We’re starting to get demand from people saying, ‘I’ve got an internal modeling group and I want to use everything you’ve got, not just for PhysioLab but across the board,’ or, ‘I want to work in modeling areas you’re not targeting right now, so we’d like to have the capability in house.’ ”

Entelos is hardly walking away from its R&D collaborations, but Bangs says, “There are also going to be people who buy technology from us. They’re going to buy software. They are going to get training. There are going to be services for integration, and some of that’s going to be [through] Discovery Innovations and some of that is going to be [with] existing Entelos platforms. We’re now able to offer the Entelos modeling platform as a product.”

DI’s current products include CHAIO, a Web-based application for aggregating research tools for easy access within a global pharmaceutical organization, and LInKS, a knowledge management solution for integrating the searching, contextualizing, and sharing of information for the pharmaceutical research community.

Entelos will use DI technology internally and externally. “Links is all about finding the right literature and sharing [that] within a community. We do that all the time except I would say our management [of data] outside the PhysioLab system is still not where I’d like to see it. Coupling [Links] with the PhysioLab is going to be really strong,” says Bangs. DI also has tools with chemistry expertise, which Entelos would like to tap into.

DI will now become a division of Entelos, and DI CEO Scott Clarke will become its VP and general manager. Near-term, Entelos and DI sales efforts will remain separate, but will be integrated over time. Bangs and Clarke agree there’s an opportunity to sell into each other’s customer base, perhaps providing existing Links customers with more-powerful modeling tools, and providing PhysioLab users with Web-based tools to find and retrieve data from public and proprietary sources to inform the modeling platform.

“I think what you’ll see is over time [sales] will be integrated, but I think there will probably be people who specialize in talking to IT folks in pharma versus talking with people who specialize in the therapeutics side of pharma. There will certainly be different drivers and buyers for these things, but as modeling become more core competency, I think the IT people are going to become more involved in most purchases, too,” says Bangs.

The Entelos CTO says some early market confusion is likely, but insists Entelos is able to handle its diversifying portfolio and drug discovery aspirations.

“I think the big mistake I’ve seen some companies make before is they say, ‘Oh we’re going to be in drug development,’ and they sell off the revenue-generating part of the company and then nosedive,” says Bangs. “People have to realize we have a strong enough management team to do this, if you said, ‘Would you have done this a couple of years ago,’ well no. We weren’t ready for it. Today we do feel ready for it.” 

Sidebar:

Self-Reflections: Entelos Through the Years

Company self-descriptions – the boilerplate copy at the end of most press releases – tell a lot about a company’s evolving aspirations, marketing emphasis, and business model. Here’s a sample of Entelos’ self-descriptions excerpted from selected press releases dating back to 1999. The changes over time are interesting and reflective, not just of Entelos, but of the entire systems biology community’s ongoing efforts to evolve. Entelos has been one of the strong players, able to grow and now diversify; some others have not. -- JR

May 26, 2005

Entelos, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing new therapies for metabolic and inflammatory disorders. Our mission is to leverage our unique predictive capability in human biology to dramatically improve how medicines are discovered, developed, and brought to market. Using our proprietary PhysioLab biosimulation platforms – computer-based mathematical models of human disease, we systematically uncover the biological mechanisms underlying a disease in order to identify potential points of therapeutic intervention and the patients most likely to benefit. In addition to our internal research programs, Entelos partners with pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations worldwide.

May 3, 2005

Entelos, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company seeking to establish a proprietary product pipeline in metabolic and inflammatory diseases  using our breakthrough PhysioLab technology - sophisticated, state-of-the-art, mathematical models of human disease. Entelos also offers its capabilities through external collaborations with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. With our technology, we are increasing the efficiency of our in-house and partners' pharmaceutical R&D activities. Our mission is to dramatically improve how medicines are discovered, developed, and brought to market.

April 14, 2005

Entelos, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company employing our breakthrough PhysioLab technology - sophisticated, state-of-the-art, mathematical models of human disease - to: (1) establish a proprietary product pipeline in metabolic and inflammatory diseases and (2) speed those products to market by streamlining the pre-clinical and clinical development phases.  Additionally, Entelos offers its research capabilities through external collaborations with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to enhance that partner's drug discovery and development efforts and to expedite their therapeutics to the market. Our mission is to dramatically improve how medicines are discovered and developed, and bring to market novel therapies to treat diseases with significant unmet medical needs.

March 1, 2005

Entelos, Inc. is expediting proprietary therapeutics to the market through unparalleled expertise and insight into human metabolic and immunologic diseases. Our mission is to dramatically improve how medicines are discovered, developed, and used to treat patients.  Our expertise arises from the development and use of sophisticated mathematical models of human biology. Entelos scientists explore the complex dynamics of diseases by employing our breakthrough PhysioLab technology to increase the efficiency of drug discovery, pre-clinical and clinical development for our in-house and partner’s pharmaceutical research and development activities.

July 29, 2004

Entelos, Inc. uses its proprietary PhysioLab^® technology to identify and validate targets, biomarkers and compounds for human efficacy. The PhysioLab^® systems biology platforms employ sophisticated mathematical models to integrate information from diverse scientific and clinical sources to represent the complex and dynamic relationships of human biology. Our primary mission is to increase the efficiency of pharmaceutical research and development and to expedite proprietary human therapeutics to the market. We have multiple disease level PhysioLab^® platforms in immunology, inflammation and metabolism and are currently developing new platforms in cardiovascular, CNS and Metabolic Syndrome.

March 30, 2004

Entelos, Inc. is revolutionizing pharmaceutical R&D by employing disease level system biology technologies to identify and validate targets, biomarkers and compounds for human efficacy. Our breakthrough PhysioLab^® systems biology platforms employ sophisticated mathematical models to integrate information from diverse scientific and clinical sources to represent the complex and dynamic relationships within human biological networks. Our primary mission is to increase the efficiency of pharmaceutical research and development and to expedite proprietary human therapeutics to the market. We have multiple PhysioLab platforms in immunology and metabolism and are currently developing new platforms in cardiovascular, CNS and oncology.

July 17, 2003

Entelos, Inc. is revolutionizing pharmaceutical R&D by conducting in silico drug discovery and development. Our breakthrough PhysioLab® systems biology platforms employ sophisticated mathematical models  to integrate information from diverse scientific and clinical sources to represent the complex and dynamic relationships within human biological networks. By combining our scientific and therapeutic expertise in metabolism, immunology, and inflammation with our patented PhysioLab® systems we identify and validate targets; develop compound screening assays for lead identification and candidate selection; identify human biomarkers for patient screens, diagnostics and prognostics; and identify appropriate patient inclusion/exclusion criteria, dose and dose regimen for human clinical trials. We have PhysioLab® systems biology platforms in asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, and diabetes and are currently developing new platforms in cardiovascular, CNS and oncology.

December 3, 2002

Entelos, Inc., headquartered in Foster City, California,  is the leader in predictive biosimulation for in silico drug discovery and development.  The company's patented PhysioLab technology provides a breakthrough platform for testing experiments and hypotheses in silico, predicting the results through simulation, and creating knowledge out of fragmented discovery and clinical data. Entelos provides integrated expertise in the metabolic, immunologic, and respiratory areas, and currently offers PhysioLab systems for asthma, obesity, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.

October 2, 2002

Entelos, Inc., headquartered in Menlo Park, California, is the commercial leader in predictive biosimulation for in silico drug discovery and development. The company’s patented PhysioLab technology provides a breakthrough platform for testing experiments and hypotheses in silico, predicting the results through simulation, and creating knowledge out of fragmented discovery and clinical data. Entelos provides integrated expertise in the metabolic, immunologic, and respiratory areas, and currently offers PhysioLab systems for asthma, obesity, diabetes, and adipocytes. Access to Entelos technology and expertise is available through R&D collaborations, research agreements, and licensing.  The company plans to expand its in silico R&D capabilities based on its PhysioLab technology for a wide variety of disease areas.

December 13, 2000

Entelos, Inc., headquartered in Menlo Park, California, is the commercial leader in virtual research and development systems for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology communities.  The company provides predictive biological modeling and disease-simulation systems for drug discovery, development, and commercialization. The company's premier products, PhysioLab systems, are rigorous quantitative models of human physiology that provide researchers and clinicians with a new system for testing hypotheses, managing scientific and clinical data, and conducting virtual experiments. Entelos offers PhysioLab subscriptions, a range of professional services, and development partnerships. Entelos® Obesity PhysioLab®, Entelos® Asthma PhysioLab®, and Entelos® Adipocyte CytoLab™ systems are available today. Entelos® Diabetes PhysioLab® system is scheduled for release in the first quarter of next year. The company plans to develop products and services based on its PhysioLab technology for a wide variety of disease areas.

November 29, 1999

Entelos, Inc., located in Menlo Park, California, is a leader in e-R&D, providing mission-critical decision support and disease knowledge management for biomedical research, development, and commercialization. The company's premier products, PhysioLabs, are computer-based disease-simulation systems. Developed in collaboration with disease experts, PhysioLabs are rigorous quantitative models of human physiology that provide researchers and clinicians with a new tool for testing hypotheses, organizing scientific and clinical data, and conducting virtual experiments. PhysioLabs are used by the pharmaceutical industry to select the best diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for treating complex chronic diseases. Entelos offers PhysioLab subscriptions and a range of professional services including R&D consulting, information technology support, and training. Entelos Obesity PhysioLab and Entelos Asthma PhysioLab are now available, and a PhysioLab on HIV infection/AIDS is scheduled for completion next year. The company plans to develop and market PhysioLabs in a wide variety of disease areas.

March 8, 1999

Entelos Inc., located in Menlo Park, California, is pioneering the development of computer-based disease simulation systems called PhysioLabs. PhysioLabs, developed in collaboration with disease experts, are rigorous quantitative models of human physiology that provide researchers and clinicians with a new tool for testing hypotheses, organizing scientific and clinical data, and conducting virtual experiments. PhysioLabs are used by the pharmaceutical industry to select the best diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for treating complex, chronic diseases in different patient types. The first three PhysioLabs in asthma, obesity, and HIV infection/AIDS are expected to be released in mid-1999. The company plans to have 10 PhysioLabs available in a wide variety of disease areas by 2001.