PARIS--Genset and Algene Biotechnologies of Montreal have formed a strategic alliance for research into Alzheimer's disease. Algene has amassed a collection of clinical samples from Alzheimer's patients in Quebec and, by applying its gene mapping and statistical analysis platforms to these samples, has identified several chromosomal regions suspected to contain genes associated with the disease.
Algene will license its proprietary gene mapping results and provide access to its existing Alzheimer's disease DNA collections exclusively to Genset. In turn, Genset will use its genomics technologies to generate proprietary markers, perform high-throughput genotyping of the samples, and apply its biostatistics and bioinformatics tools to analyze the resulting association data. Genset will also fund a one-year research program at Algene for further sample collection.