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First blood test for dozens of hereditary cancers approved by FDA

insideprecisionmedicine.com

11–20 of 127 posts

Re: First blood test for dozens of hereditary cancers approved by FDA

#11

I suppose then that Theranos was never really viable based on the technology back then, as this seems to use "next-generation sequencing" tech.

What Theranos did was like promising a ticket to the Moon for 50 dollars one way.

No one doubts that you can fly to the Moon for 50 billion dollars. Perhaps, in the future, it will be feasible to fly there for 5 million dollars. But 50 dollars is beyond the realms of possibility.

Re: First blood test for dozens of hereditary cancers approved by FDA

#12

For clarification, it tests for 47 genes which are associated with increased risk of cancer. It doesn’t help tell you whether or not you have cancer, in contrast to blood tests like Galleri, which can do that. 0: https://www.galleri.com/

In what way is any of that actionable? Are there specific recommendations besides "eat right, exercise, don't smoke"? Sounds like something that could just induce anxiety.

Re: First blood test for dozens of hereditary cancers approved by FDA

#14
post #5

While this is fantastic, aren't these genes identified by 23andme other low-cost DNA tests? I'm sure they do the BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants. Or are there many more variants in this test?

There's a big difference between what 23&Me includes in their technology and reports compared to solutions that are production grade medical tests. That said, 23&Me does tout their results as being medically relevant (https://www.23andme.com/brca/)

(for a while, only Myriad could do any tests with brca1/2 because they had a patent on the literal gene sequence. it went to the supreme court and the court said no, you cannot patent human gene sequences)

Re: First blood test for dozens of hereditary cancers approved by FDA

#16
My primary concern with these are: what will it mean in a possible future to know your risk profile, and your ability to get/maintain health insurance, also without having to pay premiums. I live in the Netherlands, so probably not too much, but US could be different, and who knows what the future holds. Anyway, this makes me less/not want to take them...

Re: First blood test for dozens of hereditary cancers approved by FDA

#17
post #12

For clarification, it tests for 47 genes which are associated with increased risk of cancer. It doesn’t help tell you whether or not you have cancer, in contrast to blood tests like Galleri, which can do that. 0: https://www.galleri.com/

In what way is any of that actionable? Are there specific recommendations besides "eat right, exercise, don't smoke"? Sounds like something that could just induce anxiety.

It's actionable by your insurance provider.

Re: First blood test for dozens of hereditary cancers approved by FDA

#18

My primary concern with these are: what will it mean in a possible future to know your risk profile, and your ability to get/maintain health insurance, also without having to pay premiums. I live in the Netherlands, so probably not too much, but US could be different, and who knows what the future holds. Anyway, this makes me less/not want to take them...

GINA should protect you against this (for health insurance) in the US but it does not necessarily extend to other forms of insurance.

Re: First blood test for dozens of hereditary cancers approved by FDA

#19
post #12

For clarification, it tests for 47 genes which are associated with increased risk of cancer. It doesn’t help tell you whether or not you have cancer, in contrast to blood tests like Galleri, which can do that. 0: https://www.galleri.com/

In what way is any of that actionable? Are there specific recommendations besides "eat right, exercise, don't smoke"? Sounds like something that could just induce anxiety.

If you know you are at risk for specific cancers, then you would likely get tested more regularly and could potentially catch them at an earlier stage when they're usually more treatable.

I haven't looking into this specifically, so I have no idea if that works for the types of cancers this tests for. My point is applies to testing just generally speaking

Re: First blood test for dozens of hereditary cancers approved by FDA

#20

My primary concern with these are: what will it mean in a possible future to know your risk profile, and your ability to get/maintain health insurance, also without having to pay premiums. I live in the Netherlands, so probably not too much, but US could be different, and who knows what the future holds. Anyway, this makes me less/not want to take them...

I wonder if this could keep you from even being hired for a job. Given two otherwise equal candidates I can imagine some companies may wish to choose the one which doesn't have a risk for a major cancer.
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