Research Triangle Park, N.C. — May 21, 2003 — Solution provider SciQuest Inc. said this week that Aventis Pharmaceuticals implemented SciQuest's LifeCycle Biologicals Manager to consolidate and leverage biological sample inventory at two worldwide sites.
Aventis licensed the solution for use in its Industrial Operations business unit, which is involved in the development and scale-up of microbial strains and vectors for producing therapeutic compounds through fermentation and cell culture methods.
During the first phase of implementation, Aventis said it would use the materials management solution to track over 2,500 unique microbial strains in more than 20,000 individual containers throughout Aventis process development facilities in Frankfurt, Germany, and Vitry-sur-Seine, France.
"We expect the solution to provide a return on investment by giving our researchers global visibility into available biological inventory and eliminating redundant sample generation," explained Heinrich Decker, global manager of microbiology activities for Aventis Industrial Operations. "By supplying scientists with fast, accurate searches of biologicals and electronic sample requisitioning, we expect to reduce both processing errors and acquisition times, ultimately increasing researcher productivity."
According to SciQuest, LifeCycle Biologicals Manager is a materials management solution for life science organizations that want to consolidate biological assets and related data to enable global access to samples used and created in the drug discovery process. The solution assists research-intensive organizations in all aspects of biologicals management including collection, characterization, acquisition and logistics.
In addition, it enables researchers to submit biological samples into a centralized database using forms that capture key properties specific to each sample class, such as vectors and microbial strains. Using a search interface, researchers locate and order biological samples from local or centralized storage facilities. Repository managers can fulfill orders and globally manage sample inventory through integrated tools.
Aventis is the first company to implement all three of SciQuest's materials management solutions. The leading pharmaceutical company has also installed Reagent Manager to track and monitor chemicals and reagents used in the discovery processes, as well as Substance Manager to manage proprietary compounds.
