Silicon Valley start up Color Genomics said, they want to provide genetic testing kits available for the masses, as they are offering their saliva testing kits for women that will check for 19 genetic variants known to be correlated with a higher risk of breast cancer or ovarian cancer.
The company said, testing kit will also include testing for mutation like BRCA1 gene, which forced actress Angelina Jolie to have preventive double mastectomy. It was also confirmed that the kit will be available online from today. According to the industry experts, the company is backed by Khosla Ventures and widow of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Lauren Powel Jobs.
In a statement the company CEO Elad Gil said, the test kit was priced at low level, so that general people don’t need to have medical insurance to avail the kit. According to the industry and health experts, other testing kits similar to this can cost between $1,500 and $4,000. But it was also mentioned that, similar kits provided by Quest Diagnostics Inc. and Myriad Genetics Inc. can be availed at a lower price with health insurance.
In recent times, the generic testing kits for breast and ovarian cancers was introduced in the mainstream after a U.S. court ruled that the drug manufacturer Myriad is not entitled to patent on an isolated gene like BRCA1 and BRCA2 or correlate between gene and cancer. It was previously reported that Myriad was trying to block DNA tests by competitors before the ruling.
According to the industry experts, the market for this kind of testing kits is huge. According to a recent market data, two third of Myriad’s $778 million revenue came from BRCA Analysis test. But health experts are suggesting that though the generic testing is becoming much cheaper for general people, not every woman needs a test. People with higher risk of cancer because of family history of breast and ovarian cancer should conduct the testing.
In a statement Debbie Saslow, Director of Cancer Control Intervention at the American Cancer Society said, “People don’t understand that results can be ambiguous. If you don’t have any risk factors, nobody recommends genetic testing for the general population.”