Leading Edge R&D:

4SC TO USE IBM LINUX CLUSTER TECHNOLOGY FOR DRUG DISCOVERY

The installation of 256 double-processor eServers from the xSeries 330 and on xSeries 342 will begin immediately. This high-performance computing solution will enable the Munich based company to produce computer simulations of drug targets and lead substances for the development of new drugs. Servers will run 4SC's proprietary Virtual High Throughput Screening technology (vHTS), which calculates the biological activities of millions of molecules on the basis of protein structures, homology modelling or the biological activity of existing compounds. This will enable 4SC to offer substantial time and cost savings for the advancements of drug candidates to the development phase. The powerful IBM eServers are equipped with self-diagnosis and self-healing technology from IBM's own eLiza project. Due to this technology, the computers are, to a large extent, capable of self reporting and repairing their own system errors, thereby avoiding downtime.

"By combining chemistry, biology and computer-based screening we are able to accelerate the development of active substances for new kinds of therapeutic drugs. With our proprietary Virtual High Throughput Screening technology (vHTS) we can calculate the biological activity of millions of molecules in a very short time. In order to calculate the biological activity of molecules even more rapidly within our constantly growing database, we had been looking for a reliable IT infrastructure that would provide the processing requirements. IBM's Life Sciences division was the obvious choice to provide this technology" said Dr. Ulrich Dauer, CEO of 4SC.

4SC decided on the IBM eServers from the xSeries 330 and 342. In the weeks to come, a total of 257 of these computers (with 514 processors) will be installed at the 4SC Martinsried laboratories, supplementing the company's current computing capacity. The eServers are equipped with fast Intel Pentium III processors as well as IBM Director software, a control and surveillance program that detects and repairs possible system errors before they can lead to failures and downtimes. This technology was developed as part of IBM's eLiza Initiative, a group focused on the design of a cross-platform system to prevent server failure. Similar to the body's immune system, which operates without our awareness, this self-healing technology performs without the intervention of a systems administrator.

"This combination of fast processors and eLiza technology makes it easier for our clients to administer their servers," commented Thorsten Bartelt, Head of IBM's Life Sciences Division. "Server failures are avoided. Moreover, the servers of the xSeries Family are an economical IT solution that's reliable, quick to install and easy to operate. For a growing biotechnology company like 4SC, these are irresistible advantages."

About IBM Life Sciences

IBM Life Sciences brings together IBM resources, from research and e-business expertise to data and storage management and high-performance computing, to offer new solutions for the life sciences market, including academia, biotechnology, genomic, e-health, pharmaceutical, and agri-science industries. The fastest way to get more information about IBM Life Sciences is through its Website, www.ibm.com/solutions/lifesciences

About 4SC

4SC AG is a drug discovery and development company that derives its competitive advantage from bridging the gap between disease targets and novel drug candidates with its unique cheminformatics based technology platform. 4SC's therapeutic focus and research activities center on infectious and select hyperproliferative diseases. Three projects, for rheumatoid arthritis, malaria and bacterial infections, are currently in preclinical efficacy and pharmacokinetics studies. 4SC's proprietary virtual High Throughput Screening (vHTS) technology predicts biological activities of molecules based on protein structures, homology modeling, or the determined biological activity of existing compounds. The technology has the unique ability to screen 4SC's continuously growing database containing more than two million compounds or its virtual combinatorial libraries containing up to ten million compounds in a 24 hour period. By combining the disciplines of chemistry and biology with vHTS, 4SC's integrated technologies can significantly reduce the time and cost of advancing a drug candidate to the development phase, whilst concurrently increasing success rates for subsequent preclinical and clinical studies. The company was founded in 1997 and currently employs 66 people based in Martinsried, Germany.