Former Merck executives to join Gene Network Sciences

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Two executives leaving Merck & Co. plan to collaborate to create an open-access distributed data platform to enable collaboration by integrating genomic data sets in the public and private domains.

Gene Network Sciences announced Tuesday that it had named Merck executive scientific director of genetics Eric Schadt co-chairman of its scientific advisory board. Schadt will join with the departing head of oncology at Merck, Stephen Friend, to create the data platform, dubbed Sage.

Schadt founded the genetics department at Rosetta, a subsidiary of Merck. There, he focused on studying the genetic circuitry of human diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and obesity, publishing two papers on the subject in the journal Nature last year.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to assist GNS in their efforts to accelerate the medical impact that is starting to be reaped from the emerging field of integrative genomics,” Schadt said. “Among biosimulation companies, GNS’s REFS platform is the best available technology to turn integrative genomics data into actionable knowledge for drug discovery and development.”