It's Expensive, So It Must Be Good

Over at Genetic Future, Daniel MacArthur is wondering what everyone wants to know: why buy Navigenics' Annual Insight service for $500 when you can have 23andMe's full genome scan for $100 cheaper? Navigenics recently announced an alternative to its $2,500 genetic testing service, the Annual Insight service, which costs $499 and analyzes genetic predisposition for ten common health conditions, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and heart disease. However, access is only good for a year. MacArthur definitely isn't going to be the first customer in line. He writes: "Wow, guys, you get to look at a tiny fraction of your own genome for an entire year before your access gets revoked! You also get a whole hour of phone conversation with Navigenics' genetic counselors, which should be more than enough time for them to explain to you that their results have no clinical implications (and indeed the four conditions listed above are diseases where common genetic variants typically have very low predictive power)."