ABSTRACT
Back in November 1997, Kari Stefansson, then the relatively unknown newly appointed CEO of deCODE Genetics Inc., was interviewed for the British newspaper the Observer. The article began with explaining how genetic information derived from the Icelandic population could provide the key to curing human diseases. As the piece related:
Inside the Reykjavik headquarters of deCODE Genetics, a guard stands on permanent duty outside a small, panelled room containing double locked steel safe … The safe however is no mere repository for financial secrets or bonds. They are the genetic records of tens of thousands of Icelanders and their value is inestimable.
