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Even the Healthy

Craig Venter says tests conducted by his company, Human Longevity, can uncover disease in seemingly healthy people, HealthcareITNews reports.

Human Longevity's Health Nucleus X program offers customers genome sequencing and full-body MRI scans for $2,500, while a full work-up that includes bone density scanning, electrocardiogram, microbiome analysis, and more runs $25,000.

Venter tells HealthcareITNews that the analysis has uncovered, in one case, an unnoticed tumor that would have soon metastasized and, in another, prostate cancer in a man with low PSA levels and no symptoms. The company says that it has uncovered high-grade cancer in about 2.5 percent of people and a brain aneurysm in 1 percent of people.

"It turns out the definition of health is pretty limited," Venter tells the site. "You look OK and feel OK. We can tell you if you're healthy. We find things in 40 percent of supposedly healthy clients."

However, HealthcareITNews notes that many clinicians say such testing will uncover a number of false positives.

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