Eight months after being targeted by California regulators with a 'cease and desist' letter, deCode Genetics, a biotech company based in Reykjavik, last week received the equivalent of the state's blessing: a clinical laboratory licence.

deCode's in-house laboratory has passed muster with state regulators, and the company can begin marketing genetic tests in California. Last June's letter threatened deCode with penalties of up to US$10,000 a day for marketing to California residents (see _Nature_ 453, 1148–1149; 2008).

Two other high-profile firms — 23andMe and Navigenics — that received the letter were granted licences in August.

Kári Stefánsson, deCode's chief executive, says that the firm is awaiting a similar licence from the state of New York.