,
11 tweets,
4 min read
Read on Twitter
Commercial DNA testing is such a booming hot business that it's easy to forget that we've been there before. Already twice. Let me share some old slides from past lectures for a brief history of DTC genetic testing. 1/n 
Sciona was one of the first company to offer nutrigenomic testing, as early as 2003. Promises were similar as those we see now, e.g. by @GenoPalate : your DNA tells what food you need.
Within soon, customers had lots of tests to choose from ...
... but they had to hurry as a few years later all companies were gone.
New companies, like 23andMe, deCODEme, and Navigenics, arrived and offered genome-wide testing, predicting multiple diseases and traits from a single DNA sample.
The media was excited, Time magazine named @23andme Product of the Year in 2008 ... but warned that DNA test results could differ between companies.
Around 2010, we had started a study to compare predictions of these three companies. A few months before its publication, deCODEme and Navigenics had already left the business. Only 23andMe survived.
During all these years, there were DNA tests that stretch the interpretation of scientific findings beyond what was studied. The single SNP that makes you an endurance athlete or sprinter, the DNA test that finds you your best partner, priceless but useless.
The media never got enough, but most tests journalists wrote about never hit the market ...
... which wasn't that surprising as most claims were backed up by poor science.
So what's ahead?
Science is improving and time will tell whether the current (3rd) wave of commercial DNA testing will appear a viable business. Testing carrier status of rare DNA mutations and ancestry testing will likely stay, but the rest?
Science is improving and time will tell whether the current (3rd) wave of commercial DNA testing will appear a viable business. Testing carrier status of rare DNA mutations and ancestry testing will likely stay, but the rest?
