BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

Lion takes the contrarian path

June 10, 2002 7:00 AM UTC

Bioinformatics is not among the business models favored by the investment world right now. Thus Friedrich von Bohlen, founder and CEO of i-biology company Lion bioscience AG, surprised investors and analysts last week by announcing that the company would not pursue its internal drug discovery program in order to focus on the bioinformatics business. Indeed, Lion is looking for a strategic partner or an investor willing to finance or buy the discovery program.

"I know this is an anti-cyclical decision with so many platform technology companies turning themselves into product plays," von Bohlen told BioCentury. "But nearly 100% of our turnover is from information biology. That's our core competence and it has been very successful, if you look at our results."...