White Point Systems: Press Release 6/15/96

WHITE POINT SYSTEMS, INC.

PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT:
Gregg R. Dietzman
White Point BioMarine, Inc.
(360) 378-7292

FOR RELEASE: June 20, 1997

WHITE POINT BIOMARINE RELEASES NAPIS^TM LITE VERSION 1.0
(Friday Harbor, WA) -- White Point BioMarine, Inc. (WPBM, a privately held company), today announces the release of NAPIS Lite database software which initiates delivery of the NAPIS (NAtural Products Information System) suite of products. NAPIS Lite is a tool intended for use by field-biologists that provide raw natural products source materials, for example, tissue samples from plants, used in drug discovery screens (Paradox-based, free download at www.esri.com).

NAPIS supports drug discovery researchers at the government, industry, and university level by providing a link between the library, laboratory, and the field. Researchers use NAPIS to support their natural products drug discovery programs by integrating bioassay data and field biology data which allows query for important organism group / chemical structure / biological activity relationships. The incorporation of geographic information system (GIS) technology allows traditional database tables to be related to spatial features on computer-based maps. Researchers can query using the GIS map and drill down on chemical structures, or vice versa, query on source organism / chemistry / bioactivity and show the results on a map. NAPIS is developed within a client/server environment but can also function autonomously, it is modular, scaleable and secure.

The NAPIS technology provides important features for researchers working with natural products chemicals. Natural products are chemical or genetic materials derived from natural sources that are commonly used in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Because chemical diversity in the natural environment is directly proportional to biological plus geographic diversity, researchers travel the world acquiring samples to evaluate in their drug discovery screens. Documenting the detailed ecology of each sample collection is not feasible, however, because most come from widely different organism groups -- and questions that arise during follow-on studies are frequently not addressed at the initial collection.

This creates gaps within the information record for each sample collection, gaps that can be filled using GIS. For these follow-on questions, researchers can use GIS to add spatial data (=mapped data) on a need to know basis, and addition of these varied data does not affect the NAPIS logical design and data model. The result is an information system that relieves the burden of documentation at the initial collection stage, and provides extended power for query of the dataset to support follow-on studies. This technology holds potential for greater efficiency in the drug discovery process.

The extended information handling requirements faced by drug discovery programs that screen natural products are met by the NAPIS technology, where they can be converted to assets for guiding future efforts and enhance the probability of success.

White Point BioMarine, Inc., incorporated in 1993, is an innovative service company that supports the pharmaceutical industry with natural products chemistry programs, and the natural resource management industry with environmental assessment services; programs serving both these industries incorporate advanced technologies for information handling. NAPIS was developed in part with grant funds from the US National Cancer Institute, Small Business Innovation Research grant program. WPBM has strategic alliances with Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) for GIS, and with Oxford Molecular Group and MDL Information Systems for chemical structure handling technologies.

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