23andMe Wants FDA Approval for Personal DNA Testing. What Can It Reveal?
By Bonnie Rochman,
TIME Healthland
| 08. 02. 2012
Earlier this week, the personal gene-testing company 23andMe announced that
it’s seeking the blessing of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for
its DNA tests that allow people to peer into their genetic makeup.
If the FDA grants approval, it would be a major step forward for the
growing industry springing up around genetic testing. Every day, it
seems, scientists are reporting new gene-based discoveries that allow
them to better pinpoint the causes of disease. As technology becomes
increasingly sophisticated, single-gene tests are being joined by the
sort of genotyping technology used by 23andMe, which scans about 1
million points on the genome that are known to vary among humans. An
even more complex technique, genomic sequencing, looks at about 3
billion points that cover a person’s entire genetic code. 23andMe — the
name is a reference to the 23 pairs of chromosomes that comprise a
person’s genome — intends to eventually offer sequencing, but the cost
starts at around $4,000, which is considerably more expensive than the
$299 the company charges for its testing.
Not only is sequencing more...
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