Genaissance Pharmaceuticals Inc has entered into a licensing agreement with AstraZeneca PLC to utilize information generated from Genaissance's Statin Response Examined by Genetic Haplotype Markers (STRENGTH) study. Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will receive non-exclusive access to the STRENGTH study database for research purposes for a limited period. This marks the second commercialization agreement related to the proprietary data generated in Genaissance's STRENGTH study.

"We are pleased to enter into this new agreement with AstraZeneca," said Kevin Rakin, President and CEO of Genaissance. "Such agreements demonstrate our continued effort to commercialize and build on our internal programs such as STRENGTH."

The licensing arrangement is focused on proprietary data generated in the STRENGTH study. This study of more than 400 patients demonstrated that gene variations are associated with response to treatment with the statin class of drugs. Conducted over 16 weeks, the STRENGTH study prospectively analyzed for an association between an individual's genetics and the clinical effectiveness of three statins (atorvastatin, pravastatin and simvastatin) in reducing LDL-cholesterol.