Corporate Greed Drives Genetic Testing Marketplace – DNA Breast Cancer Gene Tests

DeCode is located in Iceland and we all know what has happened to the economy in that country. Also they have been warned that their stock may be taken off the Nasdaq index by October 30, if gains are not seen so they are feeling the recent downslides of the world economy slump.

With all the progress being made with genomics and breast cancer, which test is the best value? According to this article one could seemingly get the desired information from 23andMe at a much lower cost.

This is very confusing to the consumer to say the least and which way do physicians and patients turn? The Genetic Counseling Foundation might have answers, but then again being the technology is so new and changes so rapidly, there’s a possibility that the latest may not be available there as well, but worth a shot. BD

Fresh on the heels of the launch of the deCODE BreastCancer genetic test last week, Dr. Arthur Caplan, renowned director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics, said in an article for MSNBC.com that breast cancer gene tests are not worth the price.

Speaking of cost, though,it seems that 23andMe customers get the better deal because ~~all of the~~ six of the seven SNPs (rs4415084 was on the v1 chip but not on the v2 chip) examined in the DeCode Breast Cancer genetic test are included on version 2 of the 23andMe gene chip (I checked using SNPedia) not to mention the other nearly 600,000 SNPs included in the 23andMe report. A 23andMe DNA test costs $399 while a DeCode Breast Cancer genetic test costs $1,625.

Decode's test offers other bits and fancy algorithms for calculating risk to justify the price. But customers should be aware that there is more than one way to get the genetic data they desire. And that data’s worth can be hard to price.