Diagnosing the deCode-Roche relationship

Roche says its newest deal with deCode genetics Inc. marks the maturation of a genomics partnership into a collaboration to discover and develop diagnostics and drugs to detect and treat chronic diseases like diabetes, anxiety, depression and stroke earlier in their development. But although it might look like Roche is grooming deCode to be its next Genentech Inc., the pharma company says it's too early to draw such conclusions.

"We look at the deCode and Genentech relationships as being totally different," said Lee Babiss, vice president of preclinical research and development at Roche (SWX:ROCZ, Basel, Switzerland). ...