BioCentury
ARTICLE | Politics, Policy & Law

deCode gets some heat in Iceland

June 22, 1998 7:00 AM UTC

A bill before the parliament of Iceland could give deCode genetics Inc. exclusive management of a database of patient information and clinical history that is the foundation of the company's human genetic research for complex diseases. However, the bill has received vocal opposition from Iceland's medical community since its "surprise" introduction at the beginning of April, and deCode is bearing the brunt of the fallout.

The proposed bill would empower Iceland's Ministry of Health to grant permission to a private company to assemble a database on the health care system of Iceland, said deCode President and CEO Kari Stefansson. The database would include clinical information, patient genealogies, and health care cost information, and would be freely accessible to health care authorities and scientists in Iceland...