Do We Really Need an Even Better Prenatal Test for Down Syndrome?
By Chris Kaposy,
Impact Ethics
| 05. 19. 2015
Untitled Document
The journal Clinical Proteomics recently published an article describing a new experimental prenatal test for Down syndrome that uses only a maternal urine sample. The test has been touted in the media as providing instant results with 90% accuracy. The promise of such a test – if it ever comes to market – is that women could administer it at home, early in pregnancy, with low cost.
Prenatal testing for Down syndrome and other aneuploidies is a rapidly advancing field. In the past few years, biotech companies have developed prenatal Down syndrome tests that detect cell-free fetal DNA in the pregnant woman’s blood. These tests have been dubbed “non-invasive prenatal tests” because they provide highly accurate results without having to resort to invasive tests such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, which carry a risk of miscarriage. The new urine test for Down syndrome, developed by the biotech firm MAP Diagnostics Ltd., is the latest advance in a “corporate arms race” to develop prenatal tests for Down syndrome that are accurate and less invasive, cheaper, easier to administer...
Related Articles
By Annika Inampudi, Science | 07.10.2025
Before a baby in the United States reaches a few days old, doctors will run biochemical tests on a few drops of their blood to catch certain genetic diseases that need immediate care to prevent brain damage or other serious...
By Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post | 07.17.2025
Nearly 2 million people protected their privacy by deleting their DNA from 23andMe after it declared bankruptcy in March. Now it’s back with the same person in charge — and I still don’t trust it.
Nor do the attorneys general...
By Elizabeth Dwoskin and Yeganeh Torbati, The Washington Post | 07.16.2025
A group of well-heeled, 30-something women sat down to dinner last spring at a table set with pregnancy-friendly mocktails and orchids, ready to hear a talk about how to optimize their offspring.
Noor Siddiqui, the founder of an embryo-screening start-up...
By Suzanne O'Sullivan, New Scientist | 07.09.2025
Rare diseases are often hard to spot. They can evade detection until irreversible organ damage or disability has already set in. Last month, in the hope of preventing just this type of harm, the UK’s health secretary, Wes Streeting, announced...