The economy is also affecting some of the work and business design of genetic companies. DeCode is is Iceland with offices here in Illinois as well. Biotech companies are starting to feel the crunch as well, even those with breakthrough technology in personalized medicine and part of what appears to be for sale are the elements of “Intellectual Property”, and if deemed valuable let’s say by a pharmaceutical company, this could stand to be a lifeline. BD
DeCode, the genomics company in Iceland is restructuring and working on agreements other than those in the US.
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Decode Genetics said after the close of the market on Wednesday that it is conducting a review of its long-term business strategy with a goal of sharpening its business focus and selling non-core assets, among other aims.
The Reykjavik, Iceland-based firm said it has hired the Stanford Group Company to assist it in evaluating strategic alternatives and executing quickly on the results of the review by identifying buyers or partners for its non-core business units, programs, and intellectual property.
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Dubai, UAE-based Eastern Biotech said today that it has signed an agreement to promote Decode Genetics’ DNA-based tests for diabetes and other diseases in the Middle East.
The firm, which also runs a clinical reference lab, said that it would offer Decode’s tests for assessing risk of type 2 diabetes, myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, prostate cancer, glaucoma, breast cancer, and other tests currently under development by Decode.
Earlier this month, Decode received a letter from Nasdaq informing the firm that it currently does not comply with regulations regarding the market value of its stock. If Decode does not regain compliance by Oct. 30, Nasdaq said that its shares would be delisted.
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What a sad day. These were the guys who were going to fill in the vast blank space below BRCA for attributable risk in oncology. You see, scientists originally thought that one gene-one trait correlations would be common in oncology. BRCA was discovered to highly correlate with breast cancer, and so a mountain of new genes were predicted.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the last ten years show that this has not happened, so people tried a new approach.
What if you had the family tree of an entire country, going back generations? What if you then took DNA samples from a vast number of people in that country, and got clinical data on their medical history? Put all the data into a big computer, sift it all out, and bingo! Genetic discoveries!
So this was the approach of DeCode, but even that didn't yield discoveries fast enough. Pubmed reports a rich vein of research papers, 324 so far, and probably more on the way, but not enough of these can be turned into a patentable drug to justify the costs of running the company.
I figured with the economic future of Iceland the country depending on a bailout from Russia of all places, it was a matter of time before DeCode fell, and so here we are.
Genomics doesn't seem to be much of a profitable business. Myriad is the only company I can think of that is making it in the field, and they are only doing well because of the strange patent they have on the BRCA test. The whole concept that "we are gonna get rich on this gene" doesn't seem to hold up so well in the marketplace.
Perhaps 23andMe has a better approach--get the price of the service very low, create a community around the service, and inundate us with information.
InteractMD.com
Iceland is in trouble I agree and now there is talk that Activis may be for sale, and they still have this hanging over their head in New Jersey with Congress now doing their investigation on the recalls.
ReplyDeleteWashington DC (Oct. 8)—John Dingell (D-MI), chairman of the US House Committee on Energy, and Commerce and Bart Stupak (D-MI), chairman of that committee’s Subcomittee on Oversight and Investigations, directed a letter to US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach to request further information regarding FDA’s process for inspecting manufacturing facilities of the generic drug manufacturer Actavis following several product recalls by the company.
Back to the genomics though, I guess we are going to have to wait until an entire sequence is truly available at a wholesale price.
It is a science that has a lot of information but much not developed enough to substantiate some of the costs and enough value yet to work it's way in to the day to day point of care yet.