Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Alexander K. K<strong>of</strong>inas and Abdallah Al-Shawakbeh
3.2 The “Life” and “Death” <strong>of</strong> PharmaCo’s Bio-informatics
PharmaCo is <strong>the</strong> result <strong>of</strong> a merger between two smaller pharmaceutical companies and is a top-10
multinational pharmaceutical company in terms <strong>of</strong> sales. It is a knowledge-intensive company with a
large R&D programme for drug discovery and development geared towards <strong>the</strong> creation <strong>of</strong> new drugs.
As early as 1995, PharmaCo formed a Bioinformatics group in <strong>the</strong> UK site originating from <strong>the</strong> science
research areas <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> company. The founders <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> original group were firmly rooted in <strong>the</strong> sciences
disciplines. Its first reincarnation was <strong>of</strong> a project group that would a. be involved in <strong>the</strong> absorption <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> first information technology tools, such as SRS, that were coming out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
bioinformatics/biotechnology boom and b. make true <strong>the</strong> promise <strong>of</strong> knowledge value that <strong>the</strong> Human
Genome Project (HGP).
Figure 2: Bx Function in 1995-7
The Bx group quickly grew in size from five to an approximate twenty members in <strong>the</strong> UK site alone.
By 1997 <strong>the</strong> group consisted <strong>of</strong> about 15-20 employees who rose from <strong>the</strong> research areas and
toge<strong>the</strong>r with new recruits were catering to <strong>the</strong> bioinformatics needs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> research areas. Those first
two years were heady for <strong>the</strong>se first PharmaCo bio-informaticians. For <strong>the</strong> head <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> group <strong>the</strong>
“biology nerds became <strong>the</strong> saviours” within <strong>the</strong> company, as <strong>the</strong>y were bringing in <strong>the</strong> research areas
those important new tools. As <strong>the</strong> group was quite informal “it was <strong>of</strong>ten difficult to see <strong>the</strong> edges”.
The membership was dynamic and ad hoc.
The Bx function foresaw <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> collaborating with <strong>the</strong> corporate information systems (CIS)
department <strong>of</strong> PharmaCo. At <strong>the</strong> same time CIS saw <strong>the</strong> value in supporting <strong>the</strong> Bx function. The
move made sense both in terms <strong>of</strong> technical capability (bio-informaticians understood science while
CIS understood computing) and political manoeuvring as <strong>the</strong> small Bx function needed to collaborate
with CIS. The Bx function changed in 1999:
Figure 3: Bx Function in 1997-9
In 1999 Bio-Informatics Projects are managed co-jointly by Bx and CIS in order to serve <strong>the</strong> research
areas. In <strong>the</strong> turbulence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> PharmaCo merger, <strong>the</strong> UK Bx function, being larger and much more
developed, absorbed <strong>the</strong> smaller bio-informatics groups around <strong>the</strong> globe under its Bx flag. An
important consequence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> merger was a process <strong>of</strong> introspective re-organisation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> newly
streng<strong>the</strong>ned Bx group and its emergence as a formalised Bx function with its own budget, access to
<strong>the</strong> higher management <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Discovery Management Board, one step away from <strong>the</strong> board <strong>of</strong>
directors <strong>of</strong> PharmaCo. A position <strong>of</strong> immense power for a group that now numbered about 100
employees in a company <strong>of</strong> 40,000 employees.
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