Confirmant

Confirmant was a high-profile joint venture established in 2001 by the telecommunications giant Marconi plc and the biotechnology firm Oxford GlycoSciences (OGS). The company was designed to bridge the gap between information technology and life sciences by creating a comprehensive 'Proteomics Data Center' to map the human proteome. Confirmant's business model focused on selling access to its proprietary protein databases and providing high-throughput analysis services to pharmaceutical companies to aid in target identification. By combining Marconi's high-performance computing infrastructure with OGS's proteomics expertise, the venture sought to accelerate the drug discovery process through detailed protein expression data. However, the company effectively ceased operations following the acquisition of Oxford GlycoSciences by Celltech in 2003 and the financial restructuring of Marconi.