About PRISM Forum

PRISM Forum was an international forum for senior professionals working in life science informatics and information technology within biopharmaceutical research. It brought together participants from major pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology organizations, and related areas of research computing to discuss technological issues shared across the industry.

Historical membership represented organizations including Novartis, Roche, Merck, AstraZeneca, Syngenta, Sanofi Aventis, Wyeth, Pfizer, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, and Daiichi Sankyo, as well as a number of smaller biotechnology organizations.

Our Purpose

The Forum concentrated on the exchange of pre-competitive information. Although pharmaceutical organizations operate in a competitive research environment, they also encounter many similar challenges in scientific information management, computing infrastructure, data exchange, and the evaluation of emerging technologies.

PRISM Forum provided a professional setting in which those common issues could be discussed from an informatics perspective. The objective was to help participants better understand technological developments and their possible application within biopharmaceutical research.

Forum Meetings

PRISM Forum traditionally met twice each year. One principal meeting was held in Europe and another in the United States, supporting participation from an international membership.

These meetings provided opportunities to discuss current informatics subjects, compare experiences across organizations, and examine technologies with potential relevance to pharmaceutical and biotechnology research.

The historical 2008 program, for example, included a Spring Meeting at GSK in North Mymms near London and an Autumn Meeting hosted at Daiichi Sankyo in Edison, New Jersey.

Special Interest Groups

Alongside the main Forum meetings, PRISM Forum organized Special Interest Groups for subjects requiring more concentrated attention. These groups enabled members to focus on defined areas and to involve additional specialists from their organizations when appropriate.

Historical SIG subjects included Electronic Health Records and Biomarkers, both of which presented significant information-management and research-informatics questions.

Exploring Emerging Research Technologies

PRISM Forum also examined emerging computing models relevant to scientific research. The PharmaGRID Retreats organized in 2003 and 2004 focused specifically on the possible application of GRID computing within the biopharmaceutical industry.

Activities such as these reflected the Forum’s wider role: providing a place where experienced professionals could evaluate developing information technologies in the context of real pharmaceutical research requirements.

About This Website

Prismforum.org preserves information associated with the PRISM Forum and its historical work in life science informatics. The site documents the Forum’s areas of interest, meetings, specialist activities, and its role in discussions about information technology for biopharmaceutical research.

The material is intended as informational and historical content. It is not intended to advertise pharmaceutical products, provide medical advice, or promote a particular technology vendor.