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23andMe raises $50M, cuts price to $99, sets goal of 1M genotyped customers

blog.23andme.com

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Re: 23andMe raises $50M, cuts price to $99, sets goal of 1M genotyped customers

#91

Post by Symmetry »

maratd wrote: post #15
sami36 wrote: post #6

If their results are accurate to a degree, why are their tests not being subsidized by insurance companies. How much would an insurance co save by alerting a patient to her chances of getting diabetes, not to mention the money the patient would itself save.

There are really 3 sets of results they provide. 1. Genetic disorder. Tay–Sachs, etc. This stuff is priceless, because in the past, you had to pay thousands of dollars to get these same tests tone. These are accurate and very worthwhile ... but the majority of people will come back with all negative results, which is actually a good thing. 2. Your "increased risk" to certain diseases, like heart disease, etc. IMHO, t…

There's also

4. You're (nearly) immune to an infectious disease. It's good to know when a friend is puking their guts out that I can help take care of them since I'm one of the lucky 20% of white people with wonky fucosyltransferase that won't act as a receptor for the virus.

And knowing (2) lets channel potential anxiety about salt consumption into anxiety about fat consumption, letting me stay healthier on a given anxiety budget.

Re: 23andMe raises $50M, cuts price to $99, sets goal of 1M genotyped customers

#93

Post by mediacrisis »

josscrowcroft wrote: post #32

I'm still just not sure I really want to know all these things... it's just low-hanging fruit for any hypochondriac tendencies :/ But, fantastic nonetheless.

I have the same concern, but having no family medical history (closed adoption) makes the new price point rather tempting, despite the inevitable anxiety.

Re: 23andMe raises $50M, cuts price to $99, sets goal of 1M genotyped customers

#95

Post by jeremyarussell »

dsplittgerber wrote: post #16

Is the most obvious question being adressed in any jurisdiction yet? - Do you legally have to disclose your results to any insurance company you already have an existing contract with or prior to any new insurance contract? By chance, I just read a typical life insurance contract and it already stated that if you have undergone a genetic testing, you do have to disclose your results if you enter into a life insurance…

Not sure if you noticed this on their website. Covers a bit of what has been discussed already but I figured while we are talking about the insurance implications involved we should include the answer 23andme already gives the public.

https://customercare.23andme.com/entries/21262356-could-my-g...

Re: 23andMe raises $50M, cuts price to $99, sets goal of 1M genotyped customers

#96

Post by mahyarm »

r3demon wrote: post #18

Will they give my genotype information to FBI or CIA? Will they pay damages if information gets stolen? This is not some passwords or account numbers, this is data about real world which can't be changed.

They will give the information as required by law, such as court order. So yes they will when they are ordered to.

Given the history of the NSA/CIA and so on, they probably will try to harvest all available genetic data they can to help identify people they are interested in the future. Genetic information without an identity can be matched after the fact, probably by more extensive biometric border checkpoints in the next few decades.

See the 'Information Disclosure Required By Law' section: https://www.23andme.com/legal/privacy/

Re: 23andMe raises $50M, cuts price to $99, sets goal of 1M genotyped customers

#97

Post by carbocation »

graeme wrote: post #61
carbocation wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if one is predisposed to alcoholism, they might think, "Why even try to fight it? I'm going to succumb at some point anyway, might as well give up now and just enjoy it." This is just to say that that sword has two edges. EDIT: Made it abundantly clear that this is not my own personal fatalistic perspective.

predisposed: make someone liable or inclined to a specified attitude, action, or condition. Just because you're more inclined to do something, doesn't mean you're likely to do something. See the other comment about a 50% increased likelihood moving someone from 1% to 1.5% risk of succumbing to alcoholism. That said, a lot of people may make the same mistake and succumb to alcoholism erroneously based on the tests.

What you are saying is so true that it becomes almost irrelevant to the discussion. Or, rather, if people understand what you are saying then the rest of the discussion is moot. So the discussion is premised on the fact that many people don't have enough statistical understanding to consider things through that lens.

Let us assume that the absolute risk is non-negligible, and that the predisposition is also non-negligible. Even then, the way that an individual responds to knowledge of genetic risk is idiosyncratic. Some will fight the predisposition even harder, others will succumb even quicker, still others won't know or care.

Because we are talking about the psychology of the individual, and because people do not understand statistics, much less the difference between absolute and relative risk, the fact that the absolute risk for virtually every disease is very small will not matter when an individual considers the issue psychologically.

Re: 23andMe raises $50M, cuts price to $99, sets goal of 1M genotyped customers

#98

Post by loceng »

hop wrote: post #80

In other news, 23andMe introduced relative finder not long ago. I hadn't logged on in over 2 years after I did it with a groupon promo, but I had a public profile with my name and city. A half-sister i didn't know i had found me with matching DNA, owns a business 5 blocks away and walked over to meet me (what's the probability of that!?). Found my dad was not my biological dad and i was from the same sperm donor as m…

Are you joking?

Re: 23andMe raises $50M, cuts price to $99, sets goal of 1M genotyped customers

#99

Post by carbocation »

sami36 wrote: post #55
carbocation wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if one is predisposed to alcoholism, they might think, "Why even try to fight it? I'm going to succumb at some point anyway, might as well give up now and just enjoy it." This is just to say that that sword has two edges. EDIT: Made it abundantly clear that this is not my own personal fatalistic perspective.

yours is a fatalistic perspective. I would change my behavior if I knew.

This is clearly not my perspective. I'm just illustrating the opposite viewpoint of the one you espoused for the purpose of reminding you that there is an unhappy alternative viewpoint.

Re: 23andMe raises $50M, cuts price to $99, sets goal of 1M genotyped customers

#100

Post by desireco42 »

I signed up for their service few years ago, honestly didn't get any useful info. My wife has genetic mutation that seriously affects her health, nothing in their profile is even remotely indicating (that we could see).

Overall I am pretty disappointed with data I received from their service. For example I supposedly have genes that make me risk for obesity, yet I was most of my life very skinny and in recent years gain some weight because I thought it wasn't healthy to be so skinny. So, I wonder what kind of useful into others can get, when we can't even confirm basic info. I also believe (it was a while ago) that color of our eyes was 'guessed' wrong'.

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