By Kim Coghill

Washington Editor

DeCode genetics Inc., an Iceland-based company that researches the inherited causes of common diseases, signed another major deal with a U.S. company that promises to advance its pharmacogenomics business.

This newest collaboration, with Santa Clara, Calif.-based Affymetrix Inc., is aimed at developing DNA-based tests to predict the responsiveness of patients to treatments for common diseases, including high cholesterol, depression, asthma, hypertension, breast cancer, schizophrenia and migraines.

The work will combine deCode¿s population-based approach to pharmacogenomics and Affymetrix¿s GeneChip technology, and will be conducted by deCode¿s wholly owned subsidiary, Encode.

Kari Stefansson, deCode¿s CEO, declined to go into detail about the financial arrangement, but did say the value depends on how quickly the pharmacogenomics market develops. ¿The deals we are making these days are much more tilted toward giving us the largest portion as possible of the product that is brought to the market rather than up-front payments. The value will lie in the sales of the product and we are getting the lion¿s share,¿ Stefansson told BioWorld Today.

In the last month, deCode, of Reykjavik, has entered other agreements to include one with Foster City, Calif.-based Applied Biosystems Group and another with Basel, Switzerland-based F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. The five-year deal with Roche to develop DNA-based diagnostics, predisposition screening products and point-of-care informatics products could be worth up to $300 million. (See BioWorld Today, March 7, 2001, and July 3, 2001.)

Stefansson said the agreement signed last week with Applied Biosystems ¿is a very important deal for us and makes us one of the top two bioinformatics companies in the world.¿

Applied Biosystems, owned by Norwalk, Conn.-based Applera Corp., and deCode formed a three-year alliance to combine deCode¿s bioinformatics tools for genotypic analysis and Applied Biosystems¿ bioanalytical instruments to build capabilities for DNA research.

¿Applera has over 90 percent of the market when it comes to sequences to use both in sequencing and genotyping, so we are getting our software that we have developed into a very large part of the market,¿ Stefansson said. ¿What also is important here is that the data that come out of these machines comes out in a format that is compatible with other software systems that we are developing.¿

As part of the collaboration, the companies intend to adapt deCode¿s genotyping software suite for integration with Applied Biosystems¿ laboratory management software to provide customized solutions for the generation, management and analysis of genotyping data.

¿We¿ve been pleased with the business activity over the last few months,¿ Stefansson said. ¿Deals are coming through at a fairly rapid pace and we feel we are in a very good position to deliver our plan.¿

So on the heels of two successful deals, what attracted deCode to Affymetrix?

Stefansson said the answer is simple.

¿Affymetrix is the most credible company in the world, when it comes to GeneChips; they are marketing more GeneChips than anyone else,¿ Stefansson said. ¿Not only does Affymetrix have the biggest part of the market, they also have a very strong intellectual property position when it comes to GeneChips. This is a natural alliance between two companies that are bringing world-class competence in two separate, distinct areas.¿

He said the pharmacogenomic tests the collaboration develops will become the standard in health care.

Although no one at Affymetrix was available for comment, Stephen Fodor, the company¿s chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement, ¿By combining deCode¿s population resources for pharmacogenomics with Affymetrix¿s high-density GeneChip platform, we hope to expand the clinical use of gene expression profiles to predict drug response. We believe these studies will generate valuable new indicators of disease, thereby contributing to the development of more effective therapies.¿

Affymetrix develops systems to analyze and manage genetic information. The company¿s GeneChip system consists of disposable DNA probe arrays containing gene sequences on a chip, reagents for use with the probe arrays, a scanner and other instruments to process the probe arrays and software to analyze and manage genetic information.