deCODE rescued from bankruptcy and taken private

Acquisition

The Icelandic genomics specialist deCODE Genetics has been rescued from bankruptcy in the US and taken private by new owners Saga Investments LL, a fund formed by the original venture capital investors Polaris Venture Partners and Arch Venture, specifically to salvage the assets. The sequencing equipment company Illumina Inc, a licensing partner and creditor of deCODE also backed the acquisition.

Kari Stefansson, the charismatic founder of deCODE has stepped down as CEO, but remains as Chief Scientific Officer and executive chairman. He is replaced by Earl Collier, a former vice president of the US biotech firm Genzyme and a director of Reykjavik-based deCODE since 2006.

Now freed from the US-based parent, deCODE Genetics ehf, says it has the financing to continue all its operations in Reykjavik, and maintain all product lines, including its deCODE diagnostics disease risk tests, deCODEme personal genome scans and contract services including genotyping, sequencing and data analysis.

It will aim to further develop three clinical stage products, DG041 for the prevention of arterial thrombosis, DG051 for preventing heart attacks, and DG071 for Alzheimer’s disease.

Fourteen years after setting up the company, Stefansson promised deCODE will now move ahead with translating its wealth of data on genetic variants that affect the risk of developing common diseases into treatments for these diseases. “As we enter the era of sequencing entire genomes, we believe our ability to make sense of ever larger amounts of data will continue to keep us in the lead in discovery. And with our now solid financial backing [...] we will be taking a lead in the translation of our science into powerful products and services,” Stefansson said.