Following a strategy it has for other key vertical industries, Oracle this week launched a business unit focused on the health and life sciences market.

The spotlight on health care and life sciences isn't new at Oracle -- those industries have been a focus of the company for the last several years.

"We're taking all the assets and putting them into one place," says Neil de Crescenzo, who has headed up Oracle's health care and life sciences push for about two years and was named senior VP and general manager of the new Oracle Health Sciences Global Business Unit. De Crescenzo, who was a former IBM global health and life sciences leader before joining Oracle, says the new unit is "a top-to-bottom, P&L [profit and loss] industry unit," akin to a handful of other vertical market business units Oracle has created in recent years for sectors such as financial services, retail, telecommunication, and utilities.

Prior to forming the dedicated unit, Oracle's health and life sciences effort was "more geographically based," he says.

While de Crescenzo wouldn't disclose details about revenue Oracle generates through its sales of software and services to health and life sciences customers, like hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, the industry is clearly one in which the company sees growth opportunities.

The company's health and life sciences offerings include its array of database products for capture, collection, storage, and analysis of clinical data, as well as a suite of more specialized applications for clinical product development by pharmaceutical companies, including Oracle's Siebel Clinical Trial Management System.

The business unit's offerings will expand by "organic" development as well as through possible acquisition of and partnerships with third-party clinical application vendors whose products "integrate" into Oracle's platform, he says.

Oracle also disclosed that among recent health and life sciences sector customers is Indian clinical research organization Siro Clinpharm Private, which conducts clinical trials for the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device industries. Siro Clinpharm says it's using a number of Oracle's clinical applications for "end-to-end" clinical research, according to a statement released by the companies.