Comments on: Amgen Buys DeCODE – Reflections Backwards, Forwards, and on DTC Genomics http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/lawandbiosciences/2012/12/13/amgen-buys-decode-reflections-backwards-forwards-and-on-dtc-genomics/ Wed, 15 May 2013 21:56:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: hgreely http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/lawandbiosciences/2012/12/13/amgen-buys-decode-reflections-backwards-forwards-and-on-dtc-genomics/comment-page-1/#comment-103875 hgreely Fri, 14 Dec 2012 23:46:49 +0000 http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/lawandbiosciences/?p=3340#comment-103875 Jake, I'm guessing you never saw Kari Stefansson talk - or knew, at the time, the dark side of how deCODE exploited Iceland and Icelanders, or, to be fair, how Iceland and Icelanders largely lined up to be exploited. To me, your remembered golden days seem made of pyrite. deCODE was no Soundgarden (whatever that was!) Jake, I’m guessing you never saw Kari Stefansson talk – or knew, at the time, the dark side of how deCODE exploited Iceland and Icelanders, or, to be fair, how Iceland and Icelanders largely lined up to be exploited. To me, your remembered golden days seem made of pyrite.

deCODE was no Soundgarden (whatever that was!)

]]> By: Jacob S Sherkow http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/lawandbiosciences/2012/12/13/amgen-buys-decode-reflections-backwards-forwards-and-on-dtc-genomics/comment-page-1/#comment-103871 Jacob S Sherkow Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:49:43 +0000 http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/lawandbiosciences/?p=3340#comment-103871 I'm nostalgic. I began my molecular bio training right when deCODE was getting off the ground. It was promised as a hope to all humanity; a source of cures for everything. That also about the same time Wired came out with its "long boom" article (http://goo.gl/kxcfG) arguing that this thing called "the Internet" was going to ensure 25 years of sustained growth. The world was looking up, up, up. Its business failings aside, deCODE had some truly amazing discoveries, not the least of which was a common 900kb inversion that had, somehow, evaded everyone else for decades. It did some remarkable and useful sequencing work, when such work was thought to be incredibly important, patented little of it relative to its competitors, and published it widely and often. But, like "The Long Boom"--which, now, can be mocked mercilessly--its clear it wasn't meant to be. All that sequencing work has translated into little, and deCODE contributed to the Icelandic economy's recent fallout. Sometimes, promises of future success aren't enough, and we're left, empty-handed, to wistfully look back on the days when our former hopes gave us substance. Just like when Soundgarden broke up. I’m nostalgic. I began my molecular bio training right when deCODE was getting off the ground. It was promised as a hope to all humanity; a source of cures for everything. That also about the same time Wired came out with its “long boom” article (http://goo.gl/kxcfG) arguing that this thing called “the Internet” was going to ensure 25 years of sustained growth. The world was looking up, up, up.

Its business failings aside, deCODE had some truly amazing discoveries, not the least of which was a common 900kb inversion that had, somehow, evaded everyone else for decades. It did some remarkable and useful sequencing work, when such work was thought to be incredibly important, patented little of it relative to its competitors, and published it widely and often.

But, like “The Long Boom”–which, now, can be mocked mercilessly–its clear it wasn’t meant to be. All that sequencing work has translated into little, and deCODE contributed to the Icelandic economy’s recent fallout.

Sometimes, promises of future success aren’t enough, and we’re left, empty-handed, to wistfully look back on the days when our former hopes gave us substance. Just like when Soundgarden broke up.

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