羅氏公司(Basel, Switzerland)與deCode基因公司(Reykjavik, Iceland)宣布了一項為期3年的合作方案，共同研發磷酸二酯酶4抑制劑并將其商業化，這種抑制劑用于防止與治療包括腦卒中在內的血管疾病。

根據結成聯盟的條款，deCode公司將利用公司的以結構為基礎的藥物設計能力，將提前量化合物最佳化并開始研發。這兩家公司將共同承擔藥物研制與臨床試驗的費用，decode公司將獲得巨大收入以及藥物銷售的版稅。DeCode公司是一家生物制藥公司，將公司有關人類基因的發現成果應用于普通疾病的藥物研發。該公司的人力資源確保了他們能夠分離出影響重大公共健康挑戰的關鍵基因。

羅氏公司全球研究總裁Jonathan Knowles指出：“我們十分高興這種合作能夠把目標基因的研究成果推進至下一個階段的藥物研究。這是當代以患者為中心制藥研究與開發的良好范例，而這是以通過遺傳學、基因組學以及相關學科的進展促進了分子病理學根本認識的不斷進步為基礎的。”
 
Alliance to Develop Inhibitors for Vascular Diseases
 
A three-year collaboration to develop and commercialize phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitors for the prevention and treatment of vascular disease, including stroke, has been announced by Roche (Basel, Switzerland) and deCode genetics (Reykjavik, Iceland).

Under the terms of the alliance, decode will use its structure-based drug design capabilities to optimize lead compounds and begin development. The two companies will share the costs of drug discovery and clinical trials, and decode may receive milestone payments and royalties based on drug sales. DeCode is a biopharmaceutical company applying its discoveries in human genetics to the development of drugs for common diseases. The company’s population resources have enabled it to isolate key genes contributing to major public health challenges.

“We are happy to move this from collaborative genetically driven target discovery activities to the next phase of drug research,” noted Jonathan Knowles, president of Global Research at Roche. “This is a good example of modern patient-focused pharmaceutical R&D, which is based increasingly on a fundamental understanding of molecular pathology made accessible through genetics, genomics, and associated disciplines.”