Roche and deCODE unveil new alliance

Roche and Icelandic company deCODE genetics, of Reykjavik, have formed a new, three-year alliance to turn the achievements of their gene discovery collaboration into novel treatments for common diseases. Under the companies' gene discovery agreement initiated in 1998, which expired at the end of January, deCODE used its unique population data to identify key genetic factors contributing to ten major diseases.

The terms of this new alliance mean that Roche will provide deCODE with funding to focus increasingly over the next two years on downstream research into a selection of four of the diseases covered by the previous agreement, with the goal of using the targets identified to discover and develop new therapeutic compounds and to take these compounds into clinical trials. deCODE will receive milestone payments for the development of compounds as well as royalties on the sales of drugs developed under the alliance.

The two companies have announced discoveries in the genetics of a number of common diseases, including osteoarthritis, Alzheimer's disesase, schizophrenia, peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD), stroke, osteoporosis, obesity, anxiety, type 2 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.

'By leveraging deCODE's integrated discovery capabilities, we hope to speed the creation of new therapeutics to treat major diseases with unmet medical needs,' said Jonathan Knowles, global head of research at Roche.

'The shift in focus from genetics to drug discovery is a recognition of both the alliance's record of gene discovery, and of deCODE's greatly expanded capabilities for taking these discoveries into the drug development process,' said Kari Stefansson, ceo of deCODE.