Current BioData, a UK-based entrepreneurial company providing scientific information services to the global pharma industry, has chosen to expand its operations in Wales.
The company is to set up a new centre for its scientific editors in Swansea, creating 45 jobs for graduate and post-doctoral biochemists and biologists in the area.
The Welsh Assembly Government has extended its support in the form of its regional selective assistance service. Current BioData had looked at a number of locations, including Singapore, for its expansion project but the Assembly Government's international arm, International Business Wales, played a key role in encouraging the company to expand in Wales.
Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport, welcomed Current BioData's decision to invest in Wales and join the country's rapidly expanding biosciences sector. The sector employs more than 15,000 people and has an annual turnover of £1.3bn.
Current BioData will be based at the Institute of Life Science at Swansea University, where scientists will work on its flagship product, the Targeted Proteins Database (TPdb), which is used by pharma companies in their search for effective new medicines against life threatening diseases.
The database provides the most up-to-date information on how disturbances in the human body's network of proteins can lead to diseases such as cancer. Researchers in pharma companies therefore tap into this database to help them develop better and safer medicines to combat these diseases.
Current BioData employs young scientists who collect and evaluate the growing mass of scientific information on proteins and how they work in the body, turning it all into a daily updated database service that pharma companies access over the internet in return for a subscription fee.
Ian Tarr, said: "The recent investment made in biosciences in Wales, the proactive support of the Welsh Assembly Government, quality of life for staff and several other factors ensured Wales became our preferred choice.
"It is very pleasing to see the progress which has been made in Wales, enabling us to invest there with confidence and to offer opportunities for graduates to develop their careers back home."
Current BioData builds on the success that Ian Tarr and his business partner, Vitek Tracz, had with their previous company, Current Drugs. They developed Current Drugs from a small start up into an internationally recognised business that was eventually acquired in a multi-million dollar deal by the Thomson Corporation in 2002. They hope to emulate this success with Current BioData and their investment in Wales is a critical part of their business plan for the company.
Current BioData is a privately owned, UK-based company, developed as a joint venture with Swiss company Geneva Bioinformatics SA.