Friday, June 19, 2009

Free Scans, Free Scams? Maybe Not! The race is on!

Misha just posted on what I believe is the true value of all of these genome scans, currently.....

Free, until value is demonstrated in a way that doesn't include a "testimonial"

There is a new company called "TruGenetics" which is Enhancing Life Through Genomics

As I prep for my 11 AM conference call with the CDC, I have to get this post out there.....

They are giving away 10,000 scans for free. That's 500,000 SNPs from your genome, for free!

There are some big questions I have.

1. Who the hell is running this?
CEO-Jason Chien, MD, MS, Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Chien is currently a faculty member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington.

COO-
A.Edward Mohebi, MBA, PhC, Chief Operating Officer
Ed is a serial entrepreneur with wide breadth in the healthcare and technology sectors. Namely, Digital Systems, Siemens, and Microsoft Corporation

2. Why?
To offer services!

3. What are they offering?

Sample of Over 200 Traits & Diseases

Abdominal Aneurysm
Alzheimer's Disease
Atrial Fibrillation
Brain Aneurysm
Breast Cancer
Celiac Disease
Colon Cancer
Crohn's Disease
Diabetes, Type 2
Glaucoma
Graves' Disease
Heart Attack
Lupus
Lung Cancer
Macular Degeneration
Multiple Sclerosis
Obesity
Osteoarthritis
Prostate Cancer
Psoriasis
Restless Legs Syndrome
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Stomach Cancer

Ok, so this looks like they are headed to rival 23andMc with a social network and some physicians involved, at least as the CEO here......But not the Google Power.....

More to Come on this one! The challenge is on to make a business off of people's DNA. Good Luck.

The Sherpa Says: HT to Misha for this....and likely HT to George Church.....What in the world will 23andMc do? Take another 3 million from Google, that's what.......

3 comments:

Misha said...

This seems uncharacteristically optimistic for you, no? :-)

Anonymous said...

Interesting that the accuracy of their genome scan is only 99% and they point out in their small print that this means 5,000 results will be incorrect. Illumina's and Affy's microarrays provide a higher accuracy, about 99.98% or so. That's a big difference. They don't state what microarray they're using.

The fine print also says they may sell your genetic data to other "commercial entities" - hence, they provide free genome scans because they can make money selling your genetic code to other companies.

They also don't say how many SNPs per disease they look at.

Interesting new entry and definitely looks like potential competition for 23andMe!

Steve Murphy MD said...

I lost my optimism. I challenged him on twitter and he then blocked me. One thing I'll give 23andME and Navi credit for, they accepted the debate, Turns out Tru is too chicken. Which means they are hiding something and cannot be trusted........