Family History As genetic kits become cheaper and more easily available to patients, some experts caution that not all women need to be tested. Usually, only patients who are considered high-risk because of a family history of breast or ovarian cancer should consider testing, said Debbie Saslow, director of cancer control intervention at the American Cancer Society. “People don’t understand that results can be ambiguous,” she said. “If you don’t have any risk factors, nobody recommends genetic testing for the general population.” More from Bloomberg.com: Actress Téa Leoni: Charlie Rose (04/21) Together, BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations account for 5 percent to 10 percent of all breast cancers, and about 15 percent of ovarian cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute. Yet having a harmful mutation doesn’t necessarily mean that a woman will definitely develop cancer. Due to potential ambiguities in results, Color Genomics requires a physician to order its test. “We tried to ensure there’s a health-care provider involved,” Gil said. “There’s also complementary genetic counseling if you want a board-certified counselor to walk you through your results.” Genomics InvestorsAlong with Khosla and Jobs, Color Genomics is backed by venture capital investment firm Formation 8, as well as BlackRock Inc. co-founder Susan Wagner and Cisco System Inc.’s Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior. It’s also advised by Mary-Claire King, the geneticist who discovered the BRCA1 gene. Based in Burlingame, California, Color Genomics is staffed with a mix of biologists and computer scientists, along with engineers who previously worked at Twitter Inc., Google Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. Bringing together Silicon Valley tech savvy with scientific expertise was essential in helping the startup automate and streamline the process of sequencing and analyzing genes, which has reduced the price of the test, said Othman Laraki, Color Genomics’ president. Once ordered, a kit will be sent by mail to the consumer, who then returns a saliva sample. Sequencing the genes and processing the results is expected to take about four to eight weeks, Gil said. “Ultimately, this is information, not noise,” he said. “There’s a lot of tests that give you some information but may have a high ambiguity rate. But if you’re carrying a BRCA1 mutation, that’s known to be harmful.” (An earlier version of this article corrected the price of the kit in the second paragraph.) More from Bloomberg.com
|