PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, September 4 /PRNewswire/ --

Thomson Reuters, the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, announced today that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has joined the community of scientists worldwide using BIOMARKERcenter, the first comprehensive resource for biomarker intelligence to provide pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostic, and research organizations with a framework for assessing and tracking a potential biomarker for use at any stage of research or development.

Specifically, the National Cancer Institute's Developmental Therapeutics program and the associated Biomarker Program will integrate BIOMARKERcenter into its continuing efforts to investigate novel chemical and biological agents for their potential to improve cancer therapeutics.

"The NCI's Developmental Therapeutics Program (DTP) and its clinical counterpart, the Cancer Treatment Evaluation Program (CTEP) have been using Integrity(R) and it's predecessor, Ensemble(R), for many years as sources of current and earlier information on agents at all phases of discovery and clinical trials related to cancer," said Dave Newman, Chief, Natural Products Branch DCTD/DTP, NCI. "The availability of BIOMARKERcenter and its integration with Integrity will now permit easier integration of animal and human biomarker information at all stages of the NCI's drug discovery and development programs within the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, the parent organization of DTP and CTEP."

Using a unique lifecycle approach to indicate the stage of a given biomarker, BIOMARKERcenter covers individual biomarker usage as identified in literature, patents, conferences, clinical trial information, and other sources for all major therapeutic areas. For each therapy area, it includes not only biomarkers with established clinical usage, but also emerging uses for the biomarker. Each record is manually curated and expertly indexed to allow searching by fields such as name, type, biological process, indication, population, role, measurement technique, substrate, lifecycle stage, and development status of diagnostic kits. Each record is further enriched with links to all supporting source documents, throughout the history of the biomarker.

"The Scientific business of Thomson Reuters was the first to deliver a truly structured approach to a previously fragmented field," said Dr Josep Prous, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Pharmaceutical and Chemical Markets, Thomson Reuters. "We feel very proud to work with the National Cancer Institute, a true leader in the field of cancer research."

The National Cancer Institute was founded in 1937 with a mandate to conduct and foster cancer research; review and approve grant-in-aid applications to support promising research projects on the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer; and provide training and instruction in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Since its creation, the National Cancer Institute has evolved into one of the world's pre-eminent cancer research organizations.

For more information about BIOMARKERcenter, please go to: http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/products/biomarkercenter/

About National Cancer Institute

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of eight agencies that compose the Public Health Service (PHS) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The NCI, established under the National Cancer Institute Act of 1937, is the U.S. Federal Government's principal agency for cancer research and training. The National Cancer Act of 1971 broadened the scope and responsibilities of the NCI and created the National Cancer Program. Over the years, legislative amendments have maintained the NCI authorities and responsibilities and added new information dissemination mandates as well as a requirement to assess the incorporation of state-of-the-art cancer treatments into clinical practice.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.

Web site: http://www.thomsonreuters.com http://www.scientific.thomson.com

Eoin Bedford, Scientific, +44-(0)-2074334691, eoin.bedford@thomsonreuters.com