Gene Testing Often Gets It Wrong

BarbaraHudson writes: ABC is reporting that gene tests for risk of specific diseases are not as accurate as we'd like to think, with different labs giving different interpretations. Over 400 gene variants that could help one make medical decisions regarding breast and ovarian cancer or heart disease have different interpretations from different labs according to the study. "The magnitude of this problem is bigger than most people thought," said Michael Watson, executive director of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, one of the study's authors. Researchers caution consumers to be careful when choosing where to have a gene test done and acting on the results.

Comments

Bayes rule

[cowdung]

If a 99% accurate test is true, but the probability of the condition is only 0.0001%, it is still highly improbable that the person is afflicted by the condition on the basis of the test alone. Its important to narrow down the population before any testing is effective.

Money

[Tokolosh]

This is about the big-dog incumbents (Myriad Genetics, Quest Diagnostics), who charge upwards of $4,000 for testing. They are concerned to keep out small companies that are trying to disrupt the business with $250 testing. With modern technology there is no reason it should cost any more, including interpretation.

The tactics are patents, lawsuits, lobbying and FUD.

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