Comments on: Genetic Companies in Trouble in California

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:41:35 +0000

Physicians are not geneticists until they are certified with the proper training.

By: N/A

N/A — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:54:19 +0000

I think the point is that these companies (some of them at least) are very specifically telling you NOT to make medical decisions based on the information you are getting (from 23andMe’s website “we cannot and do not diagnose diseases or medical conditions, provide medical advice or otherwise assess your health. You should always contact your physician, a genetic counselor or other professional if you have any questions or concerns about what you learn through 23andMe”. Navigenics has something similar under their terms and conditions page).

By: Bertalan Meskó

Bertalan Meskó — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:19:36 +0000

Deepak, you’re absolutely right about that you can request to be genotyped. It’s your genome, it’s your data. You can also request to have a CT image of you chest. That’s your body, that’s your image.

But I believe, to make a medical decision based on these data is a job of a qualified physician.

To know whether you produce the odorous compounds after eating asparagus or not, that’s a funny thing these companies can tell you. But to change your Coumadine dosage because of your genotyping data, that is not a decision a layman can make.

Anyway, I think we’re saying the same. What do you think?

By: Deepak

Deepak — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:43:05 +0000

Berci, I am not a qualified geneticist, nor are a few other people I know who have been genotyped. If I could afford it, I would have got myself genotyped a while ago. I don’t need a physician to tell me that. It’s basic information, about me.

If I want to do something based on that information, absolutely, a physician will be brought in, cause I am not going to make the treatment decisions without them.

Now lets take a look at people self-medicating after reading something about their cough and fever on WebMD, perhaps even using some antibiotics they might have lying around. Should WebMD be shut down?

The point is this, sequence data is not a test, and in fact that is not how a diagnostic is developed. You cannot use high density microarrays for diagnostics (Illumina has the BeadXpress platform for that). So even is a physician was using those arrays to predict treatment, he/she would have to ask them to take a specific test so that the statistics and specificity are right, so lets not make things what they are not.

By: Berci Mesko

Berci Mesko — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:38:40 +0000

Steve, you knew exactly how to launch the service and chose the right way with your physician-based system.

Mr. Gunn, this is not the job of the FDA, but the job of qualified geneticists.

By: Mr. Gunn

Mr. Gunn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:06:30 +0000

Why would a physician even want to be involved in the decision whether someone should get an SNP profile? Isn’t this more the job of the FDA?

Let’s be clear here: Do we simply want the companies to be CLIA-certified and to refrain from making false promises about the results, or do we think they should only be allowed to offer their services to physicians instead of direct to consumers? If it’s really about protecting consumers, can’t they get a referral to a qualified geneticist after the test?

By: Steven Murphy MD

Steven Murphy MD — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:07:21 +0000

Berci,
It’s funny how we talked about these things way before the Big 3 ever came into existence. It think that DTC will have to morph. I imagine that they will now have to get into the physician education realm……I am certain that will be their next foray!!

Take Care
-Steve