Press Release

Knowledge Management Lagging in Drug Discovery R&D, Opportunities for Significant Productivity and Time Improvements According to 3rd Millennium

CAMBRIDGE, MA - February 19, 2003 -- Biopharmaceutical companies are missing a significant opportunity to improve research performance through better knowledge management according to a recently released white paper, "Knowledge Management in Pharmaceutical R&D". 3rd Millennium, Inc. which issued the white paper, stressed that significant changes to how biopharmaceutical R&D is conducted have greatly increased the need for improved knowledge management, but few companies have kept pace. According to the white paper, cost and time to implement are not major obstacles. Instead, confusion about knowledge management strategies and technologies-- partly caused by vendors, lack of experience, and disappointment with prior IT investments are the main reasons companies have not pursued knowledge management initiatives despite their potential for high returns and relatively low risk. 3rd Millennium is a private consulting firm helping biopharmaceutical organizations plan, build and integrate informatics sys tems that support research and discovery. (dowload White Paper).

"Scientific technologies with the potential to transform the drug discovery process have yet to create appreciable value. These technologies, along with specialization, functional compartmentalization, geographic separation and other organizational divisions have made it more important than ever to leverage or integrate knowledge created within and across drug discovery programs," said Roland Carel, Ph.D., one of the authors of the white paper. "We see some companies that have significantly increased drug discovery productivity from focused knowledge management initiatives, though more typically a great deal of valuable and costly knowledge is squandered through its underutilization or poor management."

In this white paper, 3rd Millennium detailed each of the four main steps involved in the knowledge management process and provided an overview of the different categories of information technology that support knowledge management. Said Dr. Carel, "While knowledge management in pharmaceutical R&D does not necessarily require the application of information technologies, in most practical situations, technology will play an important role. We tried to provide real world examples of where knowledge can be better leveraged to improve productivity, recognizing that each organization's specific R&D strategy and activities will determine their knowledge management strategy and investments. Unfortunately, much of what is written about knowledge management are promises of silver bullets accompanied by insufficient distinction about the uses and capabilities of products and technologies. The white paper debunks many existing myths. Most importantly, it provides a framework to identify areas in which knowledge management may be applicable while systematically classifying technologies based on their role in supporting knowledge management."

About 3rd Millennium, Inc.
3rd Millennium, Inc, located in Cambridge, MA is a life science informatics consultancy that works with biopharmaceutical, government, and academic clients on a project basis to plan, develop, and integrate software systems critical to their research and discovery programs. 3rd Millennium has leveraged its scientific, information technology, and project management expertise to implement systems for laboratory information management, microarray-based gene expression profiling, gene analysis and annotation, genomic and proteomic data integration and versioning, biological pathway modeling and knowledge management. Additional information can be found at http://www.3rdmill.com.