Bangalore: Strand Genomics, a Bangalore-based Life Sciences Informatics company today (Sep 16, 2004) announced that MediBic Alliance, the investment arm of MediBic of Japan, has taken a minority equity stake in Strand.

The 'Series A' investment was closed in September 2002 by lead investor WestBridge Capital Partners and UTI Ventures, who continue to remain active on the board.

MediBic and Strand are already in a long-term business partnership to jointly develop and market informatics solutions to pharmaceutical customers in Japan. MediBic will be represented on the Board of Directors of Strand Genomics with immediate effect.

The strategic investment from MediBic could enable Strand to further intensify its development of informatics and modelling technologies. Strand will partner with MediBic towards forming a comprehensive virtual discovery pipeline. "Strand's products, technology capabilities and roadmap for in silico drug discovery have attracted interest from a company like MediBic which has had phenomenal success in biopharma informatics consulting in Japan. We welcome their investment in our company and look forward to their active participation on the board," said Dr Vijay Chandru, Chairman and CEO, Strand Genomics.

"The investment in Strand Genomics is indicative of our interest in a long term business relationship between us while also encouraging our collaborative business partnership to bear fruit in a short period. The investment would also help Strand realise future business opportunities with Japanese industry," said Dr Yasuhiro Hashimoto, President and CEO, MediBic.