NEW YORK, Sept. 11 – DeCode of Reykjavik, Iceland said Tuesday that it has achieved several milestones in its deal with Roche to identify genes related to obesity and clinical anxiety.

DeCode said in a statement that it used genotypic data from more than 11,000 volunteers to locate a chromosomal region that contributes to obesity. The company said that through its studies it also located a gene variant that may protect obese people from contracting type-2 diabetes.