Time Magazine has posted its yearly list of Best Inventions, and the winner is The Retail DNA test, as exemplified by the 23andMe Personal Genome Service™ offered 23andMe.
23andMe started offering its 23andMe Personal Genome Service™ in 2007, but its official introduction date of 2007 Nov 19 was too late to include it 2007’s list, and they did not really get started until 2008 Jan 22. So Time magazine is not late to react.
The Retail DNA Test sure is an important development, but one that was well
underway before 23andMe was founded. Other companies offered DNA test before
23andMe even existed. They are not the pioneers.
Then again, they are. They were one of the first to offer a fairly comprehensive test.
Not a silly 12-marker test as offered by FamilyTreeDNA, or a 33-marker test as
offered by Ancestry.com, but a 600.000-marker test. That isn’t a mere DNA test,
that is personal genomics.
The introduction price of US$ 1000 was rather steep, but came down to US$ 399 in 2008 September. It is still more expensive than most DNA tests, but the cost of those other test is a few dollars per marker, while this test delivers about 1500 markers per dollar. It is expensive, yet a relative bargain.
23andMe is not the only company to offer personal genomics. Two other companies offering similar services are Navigenics and deCODE Genetics. DeCODE Genetics is the oldest company in this field and the first to introduce a comprehensive genome scan as a service you can offer over the web; deCODEme was introduced on 2007 Nov 16.
Although I do agree with TIME’s recognition of this burgeoning industry as important, I do not agree with their selection of 23andMe as inventors. Nor would I agree with deCODE Genetics as the inventor. They were first to sell a personal genomics service, but the real invention is the technology that enables these companies to do so.
23andMe uses the HumanHap550+ chip produced by Illumina. Illumina has an exclusive license for the BeadArray technology developed by Professor David Walt and colleagues at Tufts University. deCODEme currently uses the Illumina Human1M BeadChip, for more than one million data points. Navigenics uses gene chips developed by Affymetrix. Those chips are the real invention.
when personal genomics kits become as affordable as a pregnancy test, they will be bought along with it.
Companies like 23andMe are not really offering your DNA as a data file. They are offering a service. They compare your DNA to known markers for hereditary traits and diseases, to offer real information instead of raw data. Such a service is essential to making sense of the data, but it would be nice to get the raw data and then pick your analysis service.
Today, US$400 is about 300 Euri. That is a sizable chunk of money, but already affordable to many, and the prices are sure to go down further. If these prices drop like hardware prices dropped in the past, you may well be buying a test from your local chemist, computer hardware store or newsstand within a decade.
The lowering price of personal genomics will squeeze those silly just-a-few-dozen markers tests out of the market. They may be first to arrive at your chemist, but when personal genomics kits become as affordable as a pregnancy test, they will be bought along with it. The low-count marker test may survive for a while as extremely affordable routine tests and instruction material for elementary school. Genome sampling will become routine, and standard practice on admittance to a hospital, to detect allergies and hereditary conditions even before they get your medical records.
When personal genomics gets really personal, when test become truly affordable and routine, and you can keep your own data on your own computer, companies like 23andMe will have to focus on superior analysis of the data. The moderate cost of that analysis will be covered by every health plan, simply because preventing a condition is generally cheaper than treating that same condition. You will probably get that analysis from your family doctor, who will have access to all data for the entire family for best analysis results.
Copyright © Tamura Jones. All Rights reserved.