Microsoft to buy bio software operation

SEATTLE, USA: Microsoft Corp said on Monday it would buy some of the assets of Rosetta Biosoftware, part of a Merck & Co Inc unit which makes data management software for medical researchers, furthering Microsoft's push into the expanding healthcare technology business.

As a result of the deal, whose value neither company disclosed, Microsoft said it would be able to add a number of new capabilities to its Amalga Life Sciences software platform for medical researchers, including the management of genetic, genomic, metabolomic and other types of complex data.

Under the agreement, Merck will become a customer of the current version of Amalga Life Sciences for use in its research activities.

Introduced in April, Microsoft's Amalga Life Sciences is a new software platform designed to help researchers manage data and assist in the development of drugs.

The deal is expected to close at the end of June 2009, with the new Amalga Life Sciences platform incorporating Rosetta Biosoftware technologies expected to be available in early 2010.