Object-relational databases: the next wave in pharmaceutical data management

Ontogen Corporation and Daylight Chemical Information Systems have recently integrated a molecule data type in an object-relational database management system. The authors explain how this innovation unites chemical and biological data management into a single universal database. All chemical information storage, searching and retrieval is performed using a standard structured query language. The authors describe using rapid application development methods for quickly building an application to access the database and they demonstrate that these techniques can simplify and standardize the managment of pharmaceutical data.