CrossFire Beilstein Database Exceeds Ten Million Compounds

Elsevier Information Systems GmbH, a subsidiary of Elsevier, the leading global publisher of scientific, technical and medical information, is pleased to announce that, as of September 2007, the CrossFire Beilstein database will contain more than ten million compounds, each with associated experimental property data. This important achievement, in conjunction with the significant milestone of ten million reactions reached in June 2006, emphasizes the enduring value of CrossFire Beilstein as the essential first step in life sciences discovery. CrossFire Beilstein’s reliable, high quality experimental property data set it apart from other compound/reaction and bibliographic databases, making CrossFire Beilstein an indispensable resource for life sciences researchers.

CrossFire Beilstein extracts high quality data about compounds and reactions from relevant, peer-reviewed publications. As the world’s largest factual database in organic chemistry, CrossFire Beilstein includes more than 320 million scientifically measured (not calculated) properties and facts for compounds and reactions. Since acquiring the Beilstein Database in March 2007, Elsevier has continued to expand the database contents, ensuring that the database remains a rich source of chemical and physical property data for planning effective synthetic routes and enhancing research productivity.

CrossFire Beilstein and Patent Chemistry Database together constitute the CrossFire Databases which represent the largest compilation of chemical compounds, reactions and experimental data collated over time from numerous publishers and source types (journals and patents).

Organizations in the corporate and academic sectors of emerging markets are rapidly adopting CrossFire Beilstein, as illustrated by the growing popularity of the database in China. “With pharmaceutical R&D services in China expanding at a rapid pace, easy access to high quality, experimental data on compounds and reactions is critical to success,” says Dr. Hualiang Jiang, head of the Drug Discovery and Design Center, Shanghai Institute Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences. “The CrossFire Databases compile factual data about compounds and reactions from various publications into comprehensive overviews that accelerate discovery.”

Since licensing the CrossFire databases in 2004, WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX), the leading Chinese pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D outsourcing company, has become the largest user of CrossFire Beilstein on CrossFire Direct.

“WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX) relies on the high quality and relevance of the experimental data in CrossFire Beilstein,” says Dr. Ge Li, CEO of WuXi PharmaTech. “The factual Beilstein database is an indispensable resource supporting WuXi PharmaTech’s global pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D outsourcing solutions.”

CrossFire Beilstein is available online through CrossFire Commander, where the database is hosted on CrossFire Direct, or it is accessible via in-house hosting. Researchers can also access CrossFire Beilstein via DiscoveryGate®, a comprehensive online cheminformatics content platform offered by MDL Information Systems Inc.