American Society of Human Genetics speaks out on DTC testing

After a wonderful conference call with some friends regarding the future of personal genomes, I was heartened to see ASHG put out a statement on Direct To Consumer (DTC) testing. Here is what these learned individuals say.

Currently, DTC genetic testing is permitted in about half the
states2 and is subject to little oversight at the federal level. In July
2006, the Government Accountability Office issued a report documenting
troubling marketing practices by some DTC testing
companies,3 and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a
consumer alert cautioning consumers to be skeptical about claims
made by some DTC companies

While DTC testing also encompasses paternity and ancestry testing,
this policy statement addresses solely those genetic tests that
make health-related claims or that directly affect health care decision
making.

For a test to be of good quality,
the laboratory performing it must be able to obtain the correct
answer reliably, meaning that it detects a particular genetic variant
when it is present and does not detect the variant when it
is absent. A test’s accuracy is referred to as “analytic validity.”
Further, there must be adequate scientific evidence to support the
correlation between the genetic variant and a particular health
condition or risk—the so-called clinical validity.

Currently, the federal government exercises limited oversight
of the analytic validity of genetic tests and virtually no oversight
of their clinical validity.

Several complaints have been filed and
are pending with the FTC about a specific DTC genetic-testing
company, and the FTC recently issued a consumer alert warning
the public that “some of these [DTC] tests lack scientific validity,
and others provide medical results that are meaningful only in
the context of a full medical evaluation.”

So there in lies the problem. They have several solutions.

Recommendations
I. Transparency
To promote transparency and to permit providers and consumers to
make informed decisions about DTC genetic testing, companies must
provide all relevant information about offered tests in a readily accessible
and understandable manner.

a. Companies offering DTC genetic testing should disclose the
sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of the test, and the
populations for which this information is known, in a readily
understandable and accessible fashion.

b. Companies offering DTC testing should disclose the strength
of scientific evidence on which any claims of benefit are based,
as well as any limitations to the claimed benefits. For example,
if a disease or condition may be caused by many factors, including
the presence of a particular genetic variant, the company
should disclose that other factors may cause the condition
and that absence of the variant does not mean the
patient is not at risk for the disease.

c. Companies offering DTC testing should clearly disclose all risks
associated with testing, including psychological risks and risks
to family members.

d. Companies offering DTC testing should disclose the CLIA
certification status of the laboratory performing the genetic
testing.

e. Companies offering DTC testing should maintain the privacy
of all genetic information and disclose their privacy policies,
including whether they comply with HIPAA.

f. Companies offering DTC testing and making lifestyle, nutritional,
pharmacologic, or other treatment recommendations
on the basis of the results of those tests should disclose the
clinical evidence for and against the efficacy of such interventions,
with respect to those specific recommendations
and indications.

The Sherpa Says:

I am still waiting for the data from Salugen/Luxor...........hmmm I wonder why? Wake up people, this field is filled with snake oil salesmen!!!!