In addition, Amgen has acquired non-exclusive worldwide rights for the development and commercialization of diagnostic products for human use based on the same gene.

According to the terms of the agreement, Human Genome Sciences will receive from Amgen an upfront payment and certain annual fees, as well as development milestone payments and royalties on annual net sales for therapeutic and diagnostic products successfully developed and commercialized using such rights.

H. Thomas Watkins, President and Chief Executive Officer, Human Genome Sciences, said, We are pleased to enter into this agreement with Amgen. This agreement is one more step in our monetization of Human Genome Sciences assets and in providing access to our technology to those companies who share our goal of developing gene-based therapeutic and diagnostic products for use in the treatment of serious diseases.

Human Genome Sciences is a company with the mission to discover, develop, manufacture and market innovative drugs that serve patients with unmet medical needs, with a primary focus on protein and antibody drugs.

hgsi

Genetic association studies are inconclusive with regard to the best genetic candidates in the smoking cessation field The responsibilities of general adult psychiatrists, substance misuse service professionals and general practitioners are already significant, without the additional burden of informing themselves about, and providing counselling on, gene-based therapies The cost implications for the NHS of this added duty is of concern Current privacy laws within the UK fail to protect patients from the misuse of genetic information. Many European countries have laws preventing insurers and prospective employers from gaining access to an individual's genetic profile. When patients spend money on a genetic test for smoking cessation, they are inadvertently generating information about their risk of predisposition to developing or possessing a number of other stigmatising conditions, such as alcohol or cocaine addiction, or pathological gambling The majority of people who attempt to give up smoking using genetic tests will fail -success rates are as low as 20% in a year Information provided to patients from the test may mislead them into thinking they have a particularly virulent or 'genetic' form of addiction, and are never going to be able to give up.

The authors of the editorial conclude that more research is needed to verify the usefulness of genetic tests for smoking cessation, especially among general medical and psychiatric patients.

Until there is greater understanding of the genetic influences in nicotine addiction, patients being cared for in psychiatric services are best advised to avoid such tests.

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