Small independent British company Proteus Biotechnology Ltd of Marple, Cheshire, which specialises in computer-aided molecular analysis, modelling and design has joined forces with Norsk Data UK to market the Proteus BioEngine. The molecular design system is mainly targeted at pharmaceutical companies, and comes as part of a kit with hardware from Norsk Data’s 5900 Series of minicomputers. Computer-aided drug design is rapidly becoming a commercial area in which to be seen, with both DEC (CI No 629) and, more recently, IBM (CI No 1,127) getting involved with the US designer drug software firm Polygon Inc. Indeed, Norsk Data sees it as a seed-corn market which will yield future profits when the market takes off. Initially, the BioEngine is a European venture, but it is already being beta tested in the US, and is being used in the urgent search for an AIDS vaccine.
