decode genetics
dgmacarthur | February 14, 2010This piece in Newsweek is a neat summary of the rise and fall of Icelandic genomics giant deCODE Genetics. Regular readers of Genetic Future will be aware that the company has been steadily bleeding capital ever since its launch over a decade ago, and recently declared formal bankruptcy. Since then the company has been bought up by US-based company Saga Investments. (For an excellent analysis of the implications of this sale, see Dan Vorhaus' post on Genomics Law Report.)
A reader emailed me to point out that buried towards the end of the Newsweek article is an ominous paragraph for…
dgmacarthur | December 22, 2009
I'm currently playing around with my 23andMe data in the deCODEme browser.
deCODEme's (apparently new?) Relationship Check feature, which appears to be a targeted version of 23andMe's Relative Finder algorithm, allows users to compare their genetic data to other profiles in the database and calculate the probability of a familial relationship.
My comparison with notoriously cranky deCODE CEO Kari Stefansson (pictured, left) gave me this reassuring result:
Phew!
On Twitter, genetic genealogist extraordinaire Blaine Bettinger noted that deCODEme appears to have also introduced a brand…
dgmacarthur | December 22, 2009Late last week I noted an intriguing offer by personal genomics company deCODEme: customers of rival genome scan provider 23andMe can now upload and analyse their 23andMe data through the deCODEme pipeline.
On the face of it that's a fairly surprising offer. As I noted in my previous post, interpretation is what generates the real value for personal genomics companies, so giving it away for free seems a bizarre approach to business - especially for a company living on the edge of a financial precipice. However, I also argued that the intention here is likely to be to generate an opportunity…
dgmacarthur | December 17, 2009A curious tweet this morning from personal genomics company deCODEme, barely a few weeks after the declaration of formal bankruptcy of parent company deCODE Genetics:
@decodegenetics: Migrate to deCODE this winter! Upload your genetic data for free. http://www.decodeme.com/data-upload
Here's a description of the service from the URL in the tweet:
deCODEme wants to give even more people the chance to enjoy the best in personal genomics. Our bioinformatics team has just launched a simple system to enable existing customers of 23andMe⢠to migrate their data into deCODEme and to join our…
dgmacarthur | November 24, 2009Misha Angrist has a very brief but eloquent rant in response to the genomics nay-sayers in this Nature News piece on the bankruptcy of deCODE Genetics.
Here's a taste:
I agree: GWAS is of limited value and this probably contributed to deCODE's demise. But whatever deCODE's fate, if whole human genomes can be sequenced for < $2000, isn't it about time we stopped kicking GWAS's ever-stiffening corpse? Second, just because something is not a medical necessity, does it follow that it is worthless?
Here's the rest.
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dgmacarthur | November 16, 2009I was just sent this email by a deCODEme customer:
As a valued subscriber to deCODEme, we wanted to write to you directly to
let you know about some important developments in the company and how we
believe these will underpin our ability to continue to keep you in the
forefront of understanding what the latest advances in genetics mean to you.
For the past several months, deCODE has been working on restructuring its
operations. One of the principal goals of this effort has been to enable us to
find new investment that will continue our work in human genetics and to offer
to our customers…
dgmacarthur | November 16, 2009 Struggling Icelandic biotech deCODE Genetics has finally reached the point of formal insolvency. A press release today announces that the company has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in a US court:
In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware late on Monday, deCODE listed total assets of $69.9 million and total debt of $313.9 million, as of June 30.
deCODE launched in 1996, basing its business plan on its unique access to biological samples and genealogical and medical records from the small, homogeneous Icelandic population. Since its launch it has proved wildly…
dgmacarthur | August 27, 2009Peter Aldhous has a great piece of detective work in New Scientist, which has revealed a bizarre and sporadic glitch in the online software provided by personal genomics company deCODEme to allow customers to view their genetic data.
The glitch appears to be restricted to the display of data from the mitochondrial genome (a piece of DNA with a special fascination for genetic genealogists, since it is inherited almost exclusively along the maternal line). On several separate occasions the deCODEme browser presented Aldhous with a mitochondrial profile that was spectacularly wrong, differing…
dgmacarthur | August 11, 2009A reader pointed me to this press release on the dire financial state of Icelandic biotech deCODE Genetics.
The slow financial train-wreck that is deCODE has been sliding off the rails for years (see stock price chart below), but things look set to reach their final resolution one way or another within the next few months: the company currently has $3.8 million in cash reserves, but is bleeding out $12 million per quarter, and "believes it has sufficient resources to fund operations only into the latter half of the third quarter".
Where to from here? In the press release, deCODE CEO Kari…
dgmacarthur | April 1, 2009I noted yesterday that the annual earnings report of Icelandic biotech giant deCODE Genetics, one of the major players in modern human genetics, suggested that the company is veering steadily towards financial oblivion.Â
Today the company had a crucial earnings call - anyone interested in the details of deCODE's plight, or at least a sanitised corporate version thereof, should check out the webcast. The main messages from the call have been ably dissected by articles from Kevin Davies of Bio-IT World and Mark Henderson at The Times (in which I am delighted to be quoted alongside human…
grrlscientist | December 10, 2007tags: James Watson, racism, African ancestry, genetics, genome, deCODE Genetics
James Watson, 1962 Nobel Prize winner
for co-discovering the structure of DNA along with
Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins.
This is one of the funnier things I've read recently. It turns out that 1962 Nobel laureate, James Watson, who recently made some disparaging comments about the intelligence of Africans, probably is of African descent himself.
Watson, whose genome was completely sequenced, is the second person whose entire genome was published on the internet. As a result, it is freely accessible to the…