Metabolon公司

公司收入：2，000億美元

公司總部：北卡三角科技園

所屬行業：醫療衛生

成立時間：2000年

員工人數：100人

????對某個癌癥患者有效的藥物對其他患者可能并不奏效，這一點很奇怪。但是通常情況下，醫生無法預測哪些病人可能受益。Metabolon公司希望能夠改變這一現狀。這是一個新興的行業，被稱為個性化醫藥行業。專門針對每個病人的身體情況對癥下藥。它可以檢測出血樣中和尿液的小分子，從而判斷病人對藥物或疾病的實時反應。Metabolon公司成立于2000年，擁有一個陣容強大的科學家咨詢委員會，包括基金染色體科學家J?克雷格?文特爾和大約300家企業客戶——其中，默克公司（Merck）和諾爾公司（Novartis）在臨床試驗中就采用了Metabolon的實驗。該公司面臨的難題是：說服醫生使用其工具。CEO約翰?瑞爾斯（上）承認：“我們的產品在診斷中的使用率通常無法確定。”去年，Metabolon公司的銷售增長了43%，目前尚未贏利，不過，這應該不會影響它的發展速度。

????——伊萊恩?珀弗爾德

Metabolon

Revenue: $20 million

Headquarters: Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Industry: Health care

Founded: 2000

Employees: 100

????Oddly, a drug that helps one cancer victim may not work on another -- but doctors don't always have the tools to predict which patients will benefit. Metabolon aims to change that. The company works in an emerging field called personalized medicine where treatments are designed to fit an individual's physical makeup. It can test the small molecules in samples of blood and urine to see how an individual responds to a drug or disease in real time. Founded in 2000, Metabolon has a high-powered scientific advisory board, which includes genome scientist J. Craig Venter and about 300 clients -- among them Merck and Novartis, which use its tests in clinical trials. One challenge Metabolon faces is that it could be hard to persuade doctors to use its tools. "In diagnostics, the adoption rates are always uncertain," admits CEO John Ryals (above). That, however, doesn't seem to be slowing this yet-to-be-profitable company, whose sales grew 43% last year.

????--E.P.