Amsterdam, March 6, 2007 – Elsevier, the leading global publisher of scientific, technical and medical information, today announced the acquisition through its subsidiary MDL Information Systems GmbH, of the Beilstein Database, the world’s largest compilation of chemical facts and the premier database in the field of organic chemistry.

Elsevier has been exclusively involved in both the production and marketing of the Beilstein Database under a partnership agreement since 1998. Since then, Elsevier has added or updated close to 5 million compounds to the database and has helped to build a strong and established customer base in both the corporate pharmaceutical and academic sectors. As a result of the agreement announced today, Elsevier will assume ownership and acquire the rights to the Beilstein Database. 

The Beilstein Database covers organic chemistry from 1771 to date. It contains over 9.8 million compounds, 10 million reactions (making it the world's largest reaction database) and 320 million experimental data on chemical properties. It also contains over 900,000 original author abstracts from 1980-present, as well as pharmacological and ecotoxicological data describing the bioactivity of organic chemicals.

"This will open a new chapter for the Beilstein-Institut," noted Dr. Martin G. Hicks, Director of the Beilstein-Institut, "We look forward to further developing diverse activities including innovative software and journals such as the Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry."

"Acquiring the Beilstein Database, with its great legacy and contribution to science, is a natural opportunity and fit for Elsevier," said Herman van Campenhout, Chief Executive Officer, Science and Technology, Elsevier. "As one of the world’s most significant scientific resources, it is especially valuable for our pharmaceutical industry customers working in the area of drug discovery."

Elsevier has already pioneered closer integration between chemical structure data and text information. For example via the Crossfire and DiscoveryGate interfaces, customers already enjoy seamless linking between Scopus, Elsevier’s highly acclaimed abstract & indexing database, and the chemical reactions and compounds in the Beilstein Database. 

Michiel Kolman, Managing Director, Elsevier MDL in Frankfurt, where the Beilstein database is produced, stated, "We are very excited about the opportunities to bring even further efficiencies to the researcher's workflow by applying innovative approaches to integration between different data resources."

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About Beilstein-Institut
The Beilstein-Institut is a non-profit foundation and pursues its mission for the advancement of chemical sciences particularly through information and communication. The Beilstein-Institut is owner of the Beilstein Handbook of Organic Chemistry, the MedPhyt medicinal plants database, and software, such as, the Beilstein Chemical Toolkit (BCT) and Structure Editor, and the Autonom chemical nomenclature program. The Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry (BJOC); a high quality, fully refereed journal, is published as a free access online journal   www.beilstein-journals.org/bjoc.

The Beilstein-Institut is planning to extend its activities in the above areas by increasing the functionality, content and number of products; where possible making them freely available to the scientific community. Free access to the proceedings of the Beilstein-Institut hosted symposia is available on   www.beilstein-institut.de.

About MDL Information Systems GmbH and Elsevier MDL
MDL Information Systems GmbH and Elsevier MDL provide informatics, database and workflow solutions that accelerate successful life sciences R&D by improving the speed and quality of scientists’ decision making. Researchers around the world depend on Elsevier MDL and MDL Information Systems GmbH for innovative and reliable discovery informatics software solutions and services augmented by 400 Elsevier chemistry and life sciences journals and related products. For more information, visit   www.mdl.com.

About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier’s 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as   ScienceDirect,   MD Consult,   Scopus, bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

  Elsevier is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of   Reed Elsevier Group plc, a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

Media Contacts:
Beilstein-Institut
Tel: +49 (0) 69-716732-0
Email: info@beilstein-institut.de

Elsevier
Shira Tabachnikoff,
Director Corporate Relations
Tel.: +31 20 485 2736
Email: newsroom@elsevier.com