DeCode Stock Up 5.20 Percent on News of Roche Alliance

NEW YORK, Nov. 23 (GenomeWeb News) - Shares in DeCode Genetics were up 5.20 percent at $6.47 in mid-afternoon trading after the company announced plans to jointly develop and market cardiovascular and cerebrovascular drugs with Roche.

Over the next three years, DeCode and the Swiss drug giant will share drug-discovery and clinical-trial costs under the three-year deal. Decode also may receive milestone payments and royalties on sales of products that win regulatory approval.

The two companies have a record of collaboration in this area that goes back nearly seven years, according to Pharmacogenomics Reporter, a GenomeWeb News publication. For example, DeCode received milestone payments from Roche for discovering the vascular disease genes related to the current agreement. Terms of that 4-year, $200 million deal, penned in 1998, also included the discovery of genes for osteoporosis, pre-eclampsia, and schizophrenia. Roche at the time said it plans to use these gene targets in developing new medications.

There is also a diagnostic element to accompany the new deal: Roche and DeCode signed a 5-year deal in July 2001, valued by DeCode at $300 million, to develop DNA-based diagnostics. The Icelandic pharmacogenomics company is also working on developing a DNA-based cardiovascular disease risk panel to identify individuals at high-risk for heart attack, stroke, and peripheral arterial occlusive disease, according to BioArray News, a GenomeWeb News publication.