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Toronto Clinic to Offer Navigenics Service

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Toronto's Medcan Clinic, a clinic that emphasizes preventive medicine, will offer its patients Navigenics' personalized genetic testing services, Medcan said yesterday.

The clinic plans to offer the company's genetic testing services in conjunction with in-person sessions with a genetic counselor, the clinic said.

Medcan said its Personal Genome Testing service will look for genetic predispositions in patients for conditions such as breast cancer, Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes, and others. These tests will only be for genetic risks "that are clinically actionable, allowing patients to lower their risk through prevention strategies and more personalized screening," Medcan said.

Patients' results will be stored on a secure web portal that will offer personalized updates such as new "condition predispositions, new markers, and new clinical and wellness strategies."

Medcan's Medical Director, James Aw, said in a statement that the genetic tests and the interpretation of their results will be "an important component of a preventive healthcare strategy," and he said that the clinic will "continue to enhance the program as the field evolves."

Financial and other terms of the alliance were not disclosed.

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