REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Icelandic biotechnology company deCODE genetics said on Wednesday it had located a gene linked to high blood pressure that could eventually lead to new medicines tackling the underlying cause of the condition.

Set up in 1996, deCODE is trawling Iceland's unique genetic heritage--which has remained stable since the Vikings arrived in the 9th and 10th centuries--to work out the links between genes and common diseases. Its most advanced programme concerns genes believed to play a role in schizophrenia.

The company said the discovery of the blood pressure gene on chromosome 18 was an important and encouraging advance in understanding the genetics of high blood pressure, or hypertension, which affects roughly one in four adults in the industrialised world and can lead to heart attack and stroke.

But any new blood pressure treatments based on the latest discovery are likely to be more than 10 years away, although diagnostic tests for genetic propensity to the condition could come a lot sooner.

DeCODE made its discovery after studying data on more than 5,000 Icelandic patients receiving treatment for hypertension and then using its comprehensive genealogy database to draw up 120 extended families with the condition.

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