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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / AUGUST 18, 2003; VOL. 2 NO. 33
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Applications:
COMPUTER LINKS TO ENHANCE
TARGACEPT
News last week that drug discovery firm Targacept Inc. will use thousands
of
school computers across Forsyth County to conduct drug research in the middle
of the night means an economic boon for the company.
Major drugs can cost $800 million and take almost a decade to develop, so
cutting that research time and expense almost in half by doing initial work
via a process called "grid computing" instead of in an actual laboratory could
be a dramatic savings to Targacept.
Targacept has been working with software developer Noregon Systems Inc. to
allow the two companies to link their computers at night with all the
computers in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system. By combining the
power of those 4,800 desktop computers, Targacept will increase its computer
research speed by 100 times -- allowing 200 months of computer research to be
done in just September and October as well as cutting its drug discovery
process almost in half by saving six to 30 months of research time.
The nighttime computer use is not expected to have any effect on the school
computers' functionality during the day, according to Targacept officials.
Two years ago, Caprion Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Montreal became the first
small
drug discovery firm known to make the leap into grid computing. Caprion was
only able to make that leap when computer maker Sun Microsystems contributed
computers and software.
Caprion used grid computing for disease modeling for lung and colon cancer
and
the company cut its research time on drugs it was developing by 30 percent to
50 percent.
Drug giant Pfizer Inc., like Caprion, has done grid computing within its
own
company's walls.
Targacept's plan to take data outside the company has others excited and
concerned.
Targacept executives stress this initiative is a test to try to propel the
company forward. With the help of its community, Targacept is trying to fast
forward its research into the behavior of nitrogen molecules.
North Carolina is developing the first statewide grid computing system, to
be
called the North Carolina BioGrid. MCNC, a Raleigh-based, state-founded
economic development organization, has made BioGrid available to university
scientists and in six to 12 months will be available to biotech companies,
said MCNC Vice President Mary Walker.
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