We’re living in an incredible future: The
sum of all human knowledge is available in
our pockets. Now, a company wants to make
it personal by adding an app with your entire
genome sequence.
If their new service launches as planned in
April of 2016, Boston-area company Veritas
Genetics will charge $999 to sequence your
genome. And send you the 6-billion-letter
sequence via a smartphone app. And provide
you with algorithmic genetic analysis for
about 2 thousand common conditions, and a
bit of on-demand medical counseling.
This would be the most affordable service
in the genome industry. We’ve come a long
way since the Human Genome Project completed
its first sequence in 2003 for a total cost
of nearly 4.7 billion in today’s dollars.
Technological advances and scaling have dropped
the price of specific genetic tests to a couple
hundred dollars, and sequencing to as low
as a thousand. But most analysis and counseling
costs at least a few thousand bucks.
Making this sort of service more affordable
is a big deal. As researchers uncover what
gene variants do and how they interact, we’re
discovering how every individual’s specific
makeup influences how their bodily systems
work – or don’t work, when diseases enter
the picture. From screening for cancer susceptibility
to taking the guesswork out of diet plans,
the future of health is highly personalized.
But we’re not there yet. Humanity’s understanding
of our genome is still decidedly murky. Genes
aren’t single-function, self-contained switches.
It’s one of those situations where the more
we learn, the more we realize that we’ve
got a lot more to learn. Which is why services
like the one being proposed by Veritas frequently
come under scrutiny from the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration.
The FDA regulates what kinds of genetic testing
can be provided directly to consumers. The
idea is that without proper comprehension,
having access to your raw genomic data can
cause stress and unnecessary treatment. You
may remember the kerfuffle with 23andMe, a
genetic testing service that struggled with
FDA regulation, but was finally approved to
provide some specific tests direct to consumers
as of February of 2015.
Veritas is attempting to skirt the issue by
making its service available only by a doctor’s
order – basically, you’d need a genome
prescription. They’re calling it a screening
effort, not a diagnosis.
We’ve yet to see whether the FDA will take
issue with Veritas’s plan. The situation
raises fascinating questions. Is there such
thing as knowing too much about yourself?
Since your genome is written in your very
cells, should the government be able to restrict
your access to it? At our current stage of
genomic understanding, is having your sequence
more or less valuable than simple diagnostics
like blood pressure and mammograms?
What do you think? Reach out and let us know.
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every day.
