Yesterday, the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative website went live. Unlike its personal genomics competitors, Coriell is offering a full genome scan plus a genetic health report and genetic counseling all for free. Genetic Future's Daniel MacArthur sees some catches, the biggest being that you actually have to go to their site in New Jersey to be tested and that they offer you limited access to your genetic markers. As for its threat to the top three, 23andMe and DecodeMe are safe, since they "both offer a wider range of applications than disease risk analysis (such as genetic ancestry and family member comparisons), and at least in 23andMe's case have a vastly superior PR engine,” he says.
Navigenics might have a harder time, since it plays in the same space of "sombre, medically-focused" gene scans. "Navigenics' product, which focuses only on these diseases, offers a negligible advantage over the Coriell scan in terms of clinical utility but costs $500 more. From most places in the US, it would be cheaper to travel to New Jersey and get Coriell's test than to fork out for Navigenics' product," he adds.