There are two successful niche markets embedded within the web-based direct access testing (DAT) market: STD testing and genomic testing. Ironically, the latter is viewed as more glamorous by the mainstream media; every new start-up company tends to get broad coverage. A recent article provides further evidence of this trend (see: Firm Brings Gene Tests to Masses). Below is an excerpt from it:
Now, a Silicon Valley start-up is making the bold claim that it can help eradicate that disease and more than 100 others by alerting parents-to-be who have the carrier genes. The company, Counsyl, is selling a test that it says can tell couples whether they are at risk of having children with a range of inherited diseases, including cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs, spinal muscular atrophy, sickle cell disease and Pompe disease (the one afflicting the children in the movie)....Counsyl’s test, which analyzes DNA from saliva samples, costs $349 for an individual or $698 for a couple....Counsyl took advantage of the release of “Extraordinary Measures” to begin a publicity blitz, issuing a press release last Friday full of endorsements from fertility doctors as well as others, who include Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Harvard professor of African-American studies, who called the test a “genuine breakthrough for minority health.” Some of the endorsers, including Mr. Gates, are advisers to the company and have been given stock options.I am a little nervous about both celebrity endorsements for genomic testing and also the injection of race into this discussion. I refer to the comment from Henry Louis Gates above, describing the genomic test offerings of Counsyl in the following way: a genuine breakthrough for minority health. Perhaps I have been conditioned by too many years of sensitivity about racial aspects of diseases such as sickle cell anemia. For me, issues of race are inherent is serious discussions about the genetic aspects of many diseases. Perhaps we are entering an era when such interactions are no longer deemed to be inherently racist or which can be used to further racist goals. On the other hand, perhaps the issue is still with us and Gates' quote is designed to specifically play the race card and elicit more business for the web site.
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