Gentris Corporation is partnering with life sciences software firm BioFortis to help accelerate the research of companies that are developing new personalized medicines.
Morrisville-based Gentris provides pharmacogenomic testing services, which involves testing how an individual’s genetic makeup influences the effect of a drug. The company also operates a biorepository for collecting and storing samples from clinical trials. BioFortis is a Maryland software company focused on data intensive research, including the data produced in life sciences research.
No financial terms of the partnership were disclosed. But the companies said that by combining BioFortis’s Labmatrix software with Gentris’ biobanking and genomic biomarker services, the two companies can more efficiently and effectively analyze scientific data. Gentris said that the new software will enhance the ability of its clients to view and manage samples that are housed by the company. The software will also enhance the ability to work with multiple data sources, such as clinical, molecular, patient and biospecimen data. The goal is to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies accelerate transnational research and more quickly and efficiently develop new personalized medicines.
Leading the new effort will be John Doyle, an IBM veteran who now becomes Gentris’ vice president of information technology. Doyle worked at IBM for more than 25 years. He was a programmer at Big Blue for 14 years before transitioning into a software engineer role in 2001. Doyle will tasked with helping Gentris improve its IT systems and infrastructure and expanding the company’s informatics and bioinformatics capabilities.
“Together, Gentris and BioFortis can help clients better manage their clinical samples, seamlessly incorporate genomic testing, and most importantly, effectively and efficiently convert the tremendous amount of data they collect into actionable information,” Doyle said in a statement.
