The genetic data of Sardinian
centenarians have been sold to the London-based biotech company
Tiziana Life Sciences.
The company, which focuses on oncological and immunological
treatment, announced Monday that it had acquired key assets from
Shardna, a Cagliari-based 'biobank' for 258,000 euros.
The company has also set up an Italian subsidiary in
Sardinia, LonGevia Genomics, to analyze and develop the data.
The announcement was made on the company website and a
press conference was due to be held on Monday.
The 'biobank' includes 230,000 genetic samples from almost
13,000 residents of Ogliastra, a region with a rate of
centenarians that is almost 50 times higher than that in the US
and UK, and which has the longest-living residents after
Okinawa, Japan.
Shardna was established in 2000 on the initiative of the
entrepreneur and Tiscali founder Renato Soru, former governor of
Sardinia and currently an MEP of the Democratic Party (PD), and
Mario Pirastu, head of the Istituto di Genetica delle
Popolazioni on the Italian national research center CNR.
Nine years later, it was bought by the San Raffaele Monte
Tabor foundation and was later among Don Verzè's assets sold
off.
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