Decode genetics makes headlines for its pioneering discoveries linking genes to heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other deadly diseases. It hopes its genetic tests will one day save lives by spotting people at risk years before they get sick. That is, if the company itself can survive.rnDeCode shares are worth 23 cents each, down from $18 at their initial public offering in 2000. The company's most advanced heart drug is stalled, its gene-testing business faces all sorts of competition, and it is running out of cash fast. DeCode needs more money by early 2009rnto continue operations and is exploring asset sales. A white knight acquirer may still emerge. But don't bet on it, says Morningstar analyst William Buhr, who predicts bankruptcy within six months or so. DeCode founder Kari Stefansson declines comment; in a conference call in November he blamed DeCode's woes on auction-rate securities in which money manager Lehman Brothers had invested much of its cash balance.
展开▼
