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(This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/3\/31\/23002953\/home-testing-letsgetchecked-genetic-sequencing-veritas<\/a> At-home health testing company LetsGetChecked has acquired the genetic testing company Veritas Genetics and spinoff Veritas Intercontinental, it announced Tuesday.<\/a> It\u2019s the latest pivot for a direct-to-consumer genetics company, most of which have spent the past few years struggling to sell DNA test kits<\/a> to consumers more and more concerned about genetic privacy. <\/p>\n Partnering with an industry like home testing, which grew<\/a> over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, is one path forward. But that integration could risk conflicts of interest for patients if a company <\/strong>is incentivized to nudge consumers towards tests based on their genetic information, experts told The Verge<\/em>. With all of these products on board at one company, genetic information \u2014 and its limitations \u2014 should be communicated very, very carefully. <\/p>\n LetsGetChecked is one of the largest companies under that umbrella, and the company said its revenue grew by 1,500 percent<\/a> over 2020 and 2021. It already has telehealth services, tests for things like sexually transmitted diseases and cholesterol, and integration with a pharmacy service. Adding genetic services lets the company cater to all of a customer\u2019s health needs, CEO Peter Foley told The Verge<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s the last piece in the jigsaw for us,\u201d Foley said.<\/p>\n Veritas, founded in 2014 by geneticist George Church, had early plans to offer cheap full genome sequencing to consumers, eventually getting the cost down to $599. Unlike companies like 23andMe and Ancestry, Veritas sequences customers\u2019 entire genome, making it more expensive \u2014 the others only sequence chunks of DNA linked to information about relevant health conditions or ancestry information. Veritas suspended operating in the United States in 2019 after struggling to find investors<\/a> and started looking for buyers<\/a> to bring it back. <\/p>\n Other genetics companies had similar problems. 23andMe laid off 100 employees<\/a> in early 2020, and sales for both 23andMe and Ancestry were down in 2019<\/a>. 23andMe has since shifted focus towards efforts to develop drugs using its database of genetic information. Related companies, like genetics database GEDMatch, have made changes \u2014 GEDMatch, which helped identify the Golden State Killer, was acquired<\/a> by a crime scene DNA company in 2019. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a lot more of this,\u201d says Debra Mathews, a bioethicist and associate professor of genetic medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine.<\/p>\n Veritas had always positioned itself as more of a personal health company. Now, the acquisition by LetsGetChecked adds it to a suite of products that offer consumers information about their health. Veritas gives people information about dozens of genes associated with a range of health conditions, including risk of cancer, risk of cardiac disease, metabolism, cholesterol, hair thickness, and pain sensitivity. Neither the genetics tests nor most diagnostic tests are cleared by the Food and Drug Administration \u2014 because they\u2019re designed and offered by a certified lab, they\u2019re considered \u201clab-developed tests\u2019\u2019<\/a> and are able to be marketed and sold without that additional oversight. <\/p>\n LetsGetChecked can now tell people their genetic risk for a certain condition and then combine that with diagnostic tests for that condition, Foley says. \u201cWe can monitor it happening over time. And then we can also provide telehealth infrastructure and a pharmacy business if people need to be treated,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n Offering diagnostic testing after genetic testing could be a helpful tool, says Katherine Wasson, a bioethicist studying direct-to-consumer genome testing at Loyola University Chicago. \u201cYou could say that it\u2019s providing more of a continuous service,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n But it could also be a potential conflict of interest. \u201cThe vast majority of the genome is like a weather report,\u201d Mathews says. Just like a weather report might tell someone it could start raining in their area, it\u2019s not a guarantee it actually will. Genes can say if someone is more or less likely to have a certain health condition but without a high degree of certainty in most cases. If the company giving out the information also sells diagnostic tests and treatments for the same condition, that could be a conflict \u2014 especially if they\u2019re pushing people toward those options based on more uncertain genetic information. <\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s a useful partnership or a potential issue depends on the way the genetic information is presented to customers, Wasson says. Ideally, they\u2019d have experts helping people process and understand their results and guide them through their next steps. There should also be clarity on the ways diagnostic test results are different from genetic test results, Mathews says \u2014 they may need to be explained or presented in a different way. <\/p>\n
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