Official Launch of Personal Genomics Company Navigenics

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted November 6, 2007 in DNA Products, DNA in General

Navigenics, a company offering customers a “personalized health strategy” utilizing genetic information, officially launched today. But if you’re looking for a list of products and accompanying prices, there’s none available on their site. You might be able to find out more by emailing tellmemore@navigenics.com.

From the press release:

Navigenics, Inc. launched officially today, naming a team of advisers and investors from leading communities in science, medicine, technology and public policy who are supporting the company.

Navigenics is a cutting-edge personalized, preventive health and wellness company, dedicated to improving health outcomes. The company will help people understand their genetic predisposition to disease and arm them with the information about what actions to take to help them stay healthy. Navigenics will accomplish this initially through use of a saliva-based, whole genome scan and analysis, matching an individual’s DNA against scientifically and clinically vetted gene-disease correlation studies.

Update: The WSJ Health Blog asks “Would you pay $2,500 for a roadmap to your genetic health risks?” One commenter, KM Daly, compares these medical genetic tests to DNA breed analysis tests for dogs.

I was going to pay $65 for each of my dogs just to determine what breeds they were so $2500 seems extremely reasonable. It may tell us what we already know but sometimes we need an outside source to really believe. I mean you can’t help thinking of White Noise, but we’ve reached that point, what are we going to do, keep it a secret?

The Wall Street Journal reports that Navigenics will be offering the Health Compass genetic test for $2,500 starting early in 2008 which will tell customers their risk for more than 20 medical conditions, including diabetes, obesity, prostate cancer, and glaucoma.

The $2,500 fee for the test will also cover consultations with a genetic counselor and a year of updates as more SNPs and diseases are validated and added to the test. Annual subscriptions for additional updates will be available for about $250.

April 8, 2008 - Navigenics Health Compass is now available for purchase. For more, see my interview with Genetic Counseling Program Director, Elissa Levin.

Photo: Manipulated image of DNA chip analysis from Wellcome Images under Creative Commons

Tags: genetics, genes, dna, personalized medicine, personal genome, genomics, health, medicine

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3 Comments »

Comment by KathyF

2007-11-07 10:07:05

Can you really tell what breed a dog is by genetic analysis? That sounds fishy somehow, since most breeds were created by combining other breeds.

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Comment by Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD

2007-11-07 10:09:34

Yes, I think you can although with a degree of uncertainty. It’s akin to genealogy DNA testing in humans where there are specific genetic markers that are unique to a particular population and that are traceable back many generations.

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Pingback by The Genetic Genealogist » Navigenics - A Personal Genomics Start-Up

2007-11-12 07:02:08

[...] their websites and their (proposed) services, and creates a wishlist for the three companies. Eye on DNA has a great post as well. Related Posts: The Latest in Personal GenomicsNavigenetics and [...]

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