NIH Seeks Input on Resolving Pubchem Issues

NIH is inviting individuals from the chemical information sector to join a new working group being formed to facilitate the development of PubChem, the agency's publicly available database of small molecules with potential biological activities. According to a Sept. 1 Federal Register notice, interested parties are being sought from both chemical information providers and users to aid the agency in improving relations with the private sector and guarding against unnecessary duplication with existing commercial information services. The deadline for interested parties to contact NIH to serve on the working group is Oct. 3. PubChem, which currently contains more than 3 million compounds, has been the center of controversy between NIH and the American Chemical Society--which publishes C&EN--because of the database's contents (C&EN, June 13, page 23). ACS contends that PubChem will duplicate its Chemical Abstracts Service Registry and has been working with the agency to find a mutually amenable solution.