Away and now back, What did I miss???? 23andme layoffs? Selling Genomes for cheap up next!

23andSerge has layoffs, big surprise.

When Linda left, she had a tribe that left too. I am working on hiring one or 2 and will see what exactly was going on over there......Likely a huge cash bleed

GAPPNet has their first meeting, which I missed.

I will email Dr. Khoury and find out how it went.

Daniel MacArthur pointing out that 23andSerge could have bashed bad science, yet instead promoted it......No surprise there either.

It looks like 23andSerge fired the engineers and scientists.....and kept the PR and marketing wonks.......

Well, in the end it is crystal clear

It turns out the lawyers questioned this as well as Misha.....Turns out, if you took the genome, then you probably can sell it.......better yet, if you "acquired it via firesale" you also can probably sell it and break all kinds of "terms of service"

What's important? Not having your genome sold off? What's important? Being able to be certain the person who has your information won't sell it to the highest bidder......Now do you see why it is important to have a doctor involved in this? We CAN'T sell it off. Even if we wanted to. It would be against the law......10 years in Folsom or 250,000 USD......OR BOTH!

The main problem is that a lot of people are confusing things.

What is important IS "What is important" not cocktail parties, blimps or CEO's from insurance companies

(hmmm, I wonder what Navigenics is thinking about doing with it's company?) Maybe Humana wants Navi, to profile their patients?

The Sherpa Says: Companies are most dangerous to their customers and the public when the chips are down. They often do unthinkable and crazy things........for cheap. Anything to survive, that is the motto of the startup. Do or should they have any loyalty to you, AFTER they already have your money? No, unless legally bound.....This is yet another reason why a doctor should be involved here.

Pharmacogenetic Indication for a Medication?

That's one way to market the newest medication to prevent stroke, heart attack or stent thrombosis.

Wha? Yes, I mean, Prasugrel otherwise known as Effient is FDA approved for use in these patients.

But one thing I was thinking is that, since the FDA put on the insert of Plavix that 2C19 testing may be useful to identify people who will not respond to Plavix (generic Clopidogrel)

Perhaps, the marketing geniuses over at Eli Lilly could use this as an FDA suggestion that these 2C19 people may be better off with Prasugrel.

Yes, it would be one of the most brilliant ways to market pharmacogenomics. I can only imagine the DTC genomics companies salivating over this "We offer the 2C19, test. Act now, save your life." Technically, It actually could. Yes, all the stops would be pulled out and it could potentially save the DTC genomics companies.

You may be asking yourself, "The DTC companies need saving?"

Yes, they do. Face facts, Research revolution is a flop, nowhere near 1000 people per study. Funny how people don't trust google or anyone without proper research accreditation.

Navi is slashing costs and they have a CEO who is the master of running wastelands (i.e. companies where all the bad assets of a VC firm go)
DeCodeMe.....huh?
Pathway and Tru have no marketing budgets and no real scientific staff.......... Seriously here. WTF?

But, if they could get one big hit from Lilly shoving billions into this PGx marketing campaign, they could be ok. Otherwise, I am afraid, they are lost.

For Lilly it would be a huge win too. Why? Imagine being able to pull a full 1/3rd of all patients taking Plavix off and switching them to Effient/Prasugrel. They could, they really, really could.

So now that I have you attention. The big question is , when will Eli Lilly do this? My guess, in the fall.

Mark my words, they WILL DO THIS and it WILL SAVE companies like 23andSergey and Navi. If of course they offer the test. LabCorp, Genelex and Quest all offer the test now.

But here's the rub, if they offer this and say it is used to make a clinical decision, then they will be a part of the healthcare industry......... Oops, forgot to mention that before. Survive and take regulations or Die..........

The Sherpa Says: This would be the most brilliant marketing campaign in the world, Personalized Medicine awareness would be worldwide, and Pharmacogenomics would hit the stage in a major, major way....Thanks Lilly, call me to orchestrate your campaign.....

Crazy Friday, Awesome Call, Tru Blocks the Sherpa

I was amazed the first time I met Francis Collins, longtime a hero of mine, Francis was gracious and kind when I met him. I also share a common bond with him. Francis' Intern at UNC was a guy by the name of Jim Sabetta, one of my instructors....


That being said, before I started HH, I watched webcast after webcast of the SACGHS. This was 2005 and 2006 I'm talking about. I did it because it was research. But I saw a guy on there who inspired me, who had such a sense of reason that the whole group respected. His name is Muin Khoury.....and I just met him Friday!

It turns out we also have people in common. But more importantly, we have a healthy respect for family history in common...... This guy and his team at the CDC have been researching Family History tools and the state of the science of family history pretty aggressively. This team is a heavyweight in the field and I am blown away by what they are doing.

Why?

It is the cheapest whole genome, phenome, metabolome scan we have today. The best part is that it covers multiple people with just one take!


They are actually researching the role effect of family history on behaviors and diseases! Something which NEEDS to be done, just like it does for SNP sandcans. Except of course, Family History costs nothing.....and has some good data already! Their FamilyHealthware methods have just been released! I will cover this further in depth in another post....

I am a little ad that I didn't get invited to GAPPnet, but am very excited to see what this conference in August on the state of the science in family history will bring.....More on this later


"Update" of TruGenetics.

While I WAS optimistic that a physician was at the helm of this company, I was reminded once again that we can be shady as well. It turns out, Dan Vorhaus AKA Genomicslawyer, read the fine print of the consent form. HT Daniel MacArthur too! It turns out Free is not so Free. Its now out that if you consent, you give the green light to TruGenetics sharing your results with companies and that your data goes into a database for "research" OK, that's strike one and strike 2......


The high heater came when I was following the COO of TruGenetics on Twitter......I challenged some of thet things he had said, like I do @Lindaavey @23andMx @Navi......But unlike those companies that stand up and defend themselves and agree to spirited debate with me.......@Achamedian the COO of TruGenetics "blocked" me!

Strike three TruGenetics.

You are out! I am deeply disappointed that you wouldn't debate me. It shows your TRU-Colors, to run and hide and also hide the fact that you are taking people's DNA for compensation of about 299 USD...... Not impressive. Nor is your call rate and error rate of 5%...... I guess you get what you pay for, when of course that product isn't hyped by large PR firms...


The Sherpa Says: Don't sign up for TruGenetics and if you do, at least you now know that they have a shady COO who runs from the questions and from the Sherpa!