deCODE genetics and Merck & Co. Inc announced the formation of a major alliance aimed at developing new treatments for obesity. Under the alliance, deCODE and Merck will combine their cutting-edge research efforts in the genetics of obesity to identify, validate and prioritize a series of drug targets to take into development. The goal of the alliance is to accelerate the discovery of new drugs to fight obesity, a condition that now represents one of the fastest-growing public health challenges in the industrialized world.
Under the terms of the three-year agreement, deCODE will receive substantial research funding, technology access and license fees, milestone payments as compounds developed under the alliance advance in the development process, as well as royalties on successfully marketed alliance drugs. Exclusive of royalties, the agreement has a potential value to deCODE of more than $90 million if Merck were to develop and market more than one product from the alliance.
One quarter of adults in the United States and Europe are clinically overweight, as are an increasing number of children. Obesity is recognized as a leading risk factor for a range of serious diseases, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes, and its treatment represents an area of compelling unmet medical need. Current approaches focus on important behavioral factors such as diet and exercise, as well as appetite suppression. Yet inherited factors play a fundamental role in the biological processes underlying obesity. deCODE and Merck aim to tap the significant opportunity their genetics research represents for discovering therapies that can help to counteract the causes of obesity, not just its manifestations.
In its population gene discovery work, deCODE has mapped several key genes linked to obesity and has gathered detailed genotypic and clinical data from more than 10,000 adult volunteers among the Icelandic population. While advancing this target discovery work, deCODE will also bring to the alliance its Clinical Genome Miner%u2122 system in order to validate and prioritize targets emerging from Merck''s substantial research programs in mice and gene-expression. The companies will use the Clinical Genome Miner%u2122, which combines genealogical, genotypic and disease data, to develop more detailed understanding of the role of Merck targets in the human biology of obesity, and to establish which targets offer the most promising avenues for the development of new drugs. The companies also plan to initiate a significant new program of genetic research based on the analysis of tissue samples from obese individuals.
"This alliance is a major validation of the power of our population approach to human genetics and an important means for us to turn our unique capabilities into valuable products for the market," said Kari Stefansson, CEO of deCODE. "We are pleased to have an opportunity to combine our know-how and Merck''s complementary approach to genetics and global leadership in the development of innovative therapeutics, to bring into development a series of novel, population-validated targets that may lead to a qualitative leap in our approach to treating obesity."