Big biotech buys iconic genetics firm

December 19, 2012

More than a decade after the sizzle of genomics investments turned to a fizzle, a biotechnology giant is buying one of the field’s flagship firms. The announcement on 10 December that Amgen, based in Thousand Oaks, California, will pay US$415 million for Iceland’s deCODE Genetics, a company with a rocky history, shows that drug developers are again ready to invest in genetic data to find therapeutic targets. (Nature)