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                                                                   EXHIBIT 10.21


                              OFFICER'S CERTIFICATE


         I, the undersigned, do hereby certify and represent that:

         1. I am the duly elected Senior Vice President and Chief Business
Officer of deCODE genetics, Inc., a Delaware Corporation.

         2. Pursuant to Rule 306(a) of Regulation S-T, the following exhibit
10.21 to deCODE genetics, Inc.'s Registration Statement on Form S-1 is a fair
and accurate English translation of a document prepared in the Icelandic
language.

         IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have signed this Officer's Certificate in my
capacity as Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer of deCODE genetics,
Inc. on this 7th day of March, 2000.



                        By:     /s/  Hannes T. Smarason
                                --------------------------

                        Name:   Hannes T. Smarason
                        Title:  Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer



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                             [deCODE GENETICS LOGO]

                               EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT


DeCODE Genetics ehf. (Islensk erfdagreining ehf.), State Registration No.
691295-3549, of Lynghals 10, Reykjavik ("the Employer"), on the one hand, and

            Kristjan Erlendsson                        300949-2669
---------------------------------------------  ---------------------------------
             (Employee name)                      (identification number)

whose address is __________ Vadlasel 12___________________ (" the Employee") on
the other hand enter into the following Employment Contract:



         1.  FIELD OF WORK.

         The Employee is hired to work as a/an ___ VP for Clinical and Academic
         Collaborations_________________              (job title, position)

         for the Employer.


         The workplace is the Employer's base of operations at Lynghals 1,
         Reykjavik, but if the Employer's base of operations in Reykjavik
         changes or increases in number, the Employee agrees to a change in his
         workplace.

         The Employee's work will be relations with co-operating physicians and
         he or she will work under the supervision of Kari Stefansson



         The Employer reserves the right to make changes in the Employee's
         projects or supervision if the Employer deems this necessary.



         2.  PERIOD OF EMPLOYMENT

         The Employee began work for the Employer on 1 September 1998.
         Termination of employment by either party shall be with one week's
         notice for the first three months of the employment period, which shall
         be a trial period. For the next three months following the trial
         period, the mutual notice period for termination shall be one



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         month. After six months' work, the mutual notice period for termination
         shall be three months. At the completion of the trial period,
         termination shall be in writing and be based on the end of the month.



         3.  JOB OBLIGATIONS

         The Employee pledges to do the work he undertakes with a sense of duty
         and diligence. While working for the Employer, the Employee may not,
         unless with the Employer's written consent, work at other jobs or
         participate in other employment that competes with the Employer's
         operations, or that can conflict in some other way with the Employee's
         work for the Employer.

         Upon termination of his employment, the Employee has a duty to turn
         over all documents and identification papers in his custody that
         pertain to the Employer.



         4.  WORKING HOURS

         The Employee's fixed working hours are from 9 o'clock to 5 o'clock
         Monday through Friday, unless otherwise agreed. The Employee shall also
         work other hours, if necessary, depending on to what extent the nature
         of his projects so require, unless urgent circumstances prevent his
         doing so. The days off are the holidays of the National Church, the
         First Day of Summer, 1 May, 17 June and the first Monday in August.

         If an urgent necessity comes up, the Employer can call the Employee to
         work at any time outside normal working hours.

         Mealtime, 30 minutes, shall be during the period 11:30 - 13:30 and is
         not counted as part of working hours. On regular workdays, there shall
         be two 15-minute coffee breaks, which are counted as part of working
         hours.

         During the period of employment, the Employer and Employee can agree on
         an arrangement of working hours other than the one above.



         5.  WAGES

         The Employee's fixed monthly wages are ISK .......................... .
         Payment for work done outside regular working hours and for any kind of
         work-related tasks is included in the above monthly wages.

         Wages shall be paid monthly on the last working day of each month.

         The wages stated above are complete remuneration for the work done by
         the Employee. In addition, the Employee is granted an option to buy a
         certain number of shares, pursuant to the attached agreement.

         Wages and other wage terms shall be re-examined every year, taking into
         consideration general wage changes and work results.

         The rights of the Employee to vacation and parental leave will be
         according to law.

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         When the Employee has earned a full right to vacation by working for
         the Employer in the last vacation year, upon beginning his vacation or
         no later than 15 August each year, he shall receive a special lump-sum
         payment. This vacation supplement, based on full-time employment in the
         last vacation year, shall be ISK 8,400, or a proportional amount of
         this sum if part-time work or a shorter period of work is involved.
         Vacation pay is not paid for vacation supplements.

         The Employee pays 4% of his total wages as a premium into a pension
         fund of his own choice, and the Employer pays 6% of the same amount.



         6. ACCIDENTS, ILLNESS AND INSURANCE

         In the event that the Employee has an accident at work, the Employer
         shall pay for getting the Employee home or to hospital and, for each
         instance, reimburse him for up to four weeks of normal, out-of-pocket
         medical expenses which are not covered by district health insurance or
         Social Security.

         In each instance of an accident at work or a work-related illness
         caused on the job or by it, or occurring during transport to and from
         the workplace, the Employer shall pay up to three months' wages
         according to the Employee's wage scale in effect when the accident or
         illness occurs, provided that per diem paid for these days by the State
         Social Security Institute and/or the district health insurance are paid
         to the Employer. The provisions of this paragraph shall not prejudice
         any additional rights the Employee may have under the law.

         Wage payments to the Employee during absences due to illness shall be
         arranged the first year so that two days are paid for each month
         worked. When the Employee has worked for the Employer for one year or
         longer, wage payments during absences due to illness shall be arranged
         as follows: After one year, two months for every 12 months. After five
         years of work for the Employer, four months for every 12 months, and
         after 10 years working for the Employer, six months for every 12
         months.

         If an Employee becomes ill and for this reason cannot attend work, he
         shall immediately notify his superior, who shall decide whether a
         health certificate shall be provided. The certificate shall be from a
         consulting physician if so requested. The Employer shall pay for the
         health certificate if the above conditions are met.

         After the first month at work a parent shall, without any deduction
         from wages, be entitled to spend a total of seven workdays of every
         12-month period in ministering to his sick children under the age of
         13, provided that other care cannot be procured.

         The Employer shall insure the Employee against death and permanent or
         temporary disability caused by an accident while at work or while
         travelling a normal route between his home and the workplace.

         If, because of his work, the Employee has accommodations away from his
         home, the accommodations replace his home, but the insurance shall also
         cover normal trips between his home and these accommodations.

         Compensation for death will be (as of 1 Jan. 1998):

         1.  If the deceased was not married and is not survived by a child and
             has not been supporting an aged parent 67 years of age or older,
             ISK 342,100.


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         2.  If the deceased was not married but is survived by a child
             (children) under 17 and/or has demonstrably supported an aged
             parent or parents (aged 67 or older), ISK 1,083,500.

         3.  If the deceased was married, the compensation to the spouse shall
             be ISK 1,479,700.

         4.  If the deceased is survived by a child (adopted child, foster
             child) under 17 years of age, for each child ISK 284,800.

         5.  Compensation is paid under only one of sub-paragraphs no. 1, 2
             or 3.

         In addition to sub-paragraphs 2 and 3, compensation may be paid under
         sub-paragraph 4.

         The beneficiaries of death compensation provisions are:

         1)  Legal heirs.

         2)  Relevant parties equally

         3)  Surviving spouse.

         4)  Relevant children, but paid to surviving spouse if he/she is one of
             the parents, or to an executor and/or trustee.

         Compensation for permanent disability is paid in proportion to the
         insurance amount of ISK 2,589,000 so that each degree of disability
         from 26% to 50% is counted double, and each degree of disability from
         51% to 100% works triple.

         For temporary disability, per diem benefits of ISK 5,884 is paid per
         week four weeks after the accident occurred and until the injured
         person becomes able to work, although for no more than 48 weeks. ISK
         785 per week are added to the per diem for each child under the age of
         17 that the injured person is supporting.

         The amounts of insurance will be reviewed twice a year, 1 January and
         1 July, and increased in correspondence with changes in the
         cost-of-living index.

         The insurance goes into force as soon as the Employee begins work and
         expires as soon as he stops working.

         The policy terms of the insurance shall be the general policy terms in
         force for wage earner job accident insurance at the Association of
         Icelandic Insurance Companies at the time of signature of this
         Employment Contract is.

         In the event that the Employer becomes liable for damages in respect of
         the Employee, accident compensation and per diem paid to the Employee
         under provisions of this Employment Contract shall be fully deductible
         from any damages that the Employer may be made to pay. While the
         payment of wages continues, per diem is paid to the Employer.



         7.  CONFIDENTIALITY

         The Employee fills a job involving responsibility and confidentiality
         for the Employer. He shall maintain the utmost confidentiality about
         whatever he has become aware of in his job regarding the Employer and
         the Employer's customers, and which can damage the interests of these
         parties. Due to the nature of his work, the Employee

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         is under obligation to handle all information, documents and data to
         which he has access in his work with the utmost confidentiality. This
         confidentiality continues in force after termination of employment.

         While the Employee works for the Employer and for one (1) year
         thereafter, the Employee shall not encourage any of the Employer's
         employees to leave the employment of the Employer.

         If the Employee quits working for the Employer, he undertakes not to
         accept work either directly or indirectly at competing companies or
         with other competing parties, or to start up or join such operations
         for at least two years after termination of employment.



         8.  PROPRIETARY INFORMATION AND INVENTIONS

         Concurrently with the signing of this Employment Contract, the Employer
         and Employee enter into an Agreement on Proprietary Information and
         Inventions. That agreement is deemed a premise for and part of this
         Employment Contract.



                                             Reykjavik, 4 September 1998.

         Employee                            On behalf of DECODE GENETICS, EHF.



         Kristjan Erlendsson [sign.]         Olafur E. Fridriksson [sign.]

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