There’s a rapidly expanding market for new DNA tests aimed at helping seemingly healthy people gain insights into their risk of developing all sorts of diseases.
The latest entrant, launched on Tuesday, promises to analyze a canonical list of 59 genes that influence your likelihood of developing certain cancers and heart problems, along with other conditions. The new GenePrism test comes from PerkinElmer, a Massachusetts diagnostics company, and Helix, a Silicon Valley startup that’s developed something of an app store for DNA tests.
Consumers can purchase the test from Helix’s site for $260 or $300, depending on whether they’re already a Helix customer, but a physician must sign off first. The purchase comes with a report analyzing the ACMG 59, a set of genetic variants that carry increased risk of disease — specifically risks that can be mitigated by certain lifestyle and medical interventions, according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. On that list, for instance, are the BRCA genes; women with variants associated with breast and ovarian cancer get increased monitoring and sometimes undergo preventative surgery.
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