23 and me isn't a healthcare provider and not a "covered entity" under HIPAA . So the protections that would apply if you got genetic testing through your doctor from an actual medical genetic testing company don't actually apply to 23 and me. Though the company maintains it follows federal regulations voluntarily "as a courtesy."
So don't worry, your genetic data is protected by the good will of venture capital tech bros.
That nightmare centaur's lats have lats
I love how confused AI gets with fingers. Everyone in an AI image born with polydactyly apparently.
This seems like a solution in search of a problem. A finger-prick a1c test is about $30 (probably cheaper in reality, but that's what they try to bill to insurance at least), and is an extremely accurate way to diagnose both diabetes and pre-diabetes.
I would think Parkinson's disease or other diagnoses that can have big impacts on speech but don't have simple tests and require a skilled exam from a neurologist or something would be a better match for this kind of tech.
The name of the report is horrific, but a little misleading with just the title. It's specifically a report about gene therapies, which are obviously still happening. Just look at spinal muscular atrophy, Duchene muscular dystrophy, sickle cell anemia about to be approved, and many others already approved or well on their way.
The main points of the report are a little more benign than the title of the report would suggest and are mostly making suggestions on how to keep a biotech company that is focused on developing cures for rare diseases solvent and running. Their main suggestions were to have a mix of both common and rare diseases, prioritizing diseases with high morbidity (like spinal muscular atrophy), and to keep a constant pipeline of new cures coming out for more rare diseases.
Don't get me wrong I have many issues with big pharma, but the way that analyst's report title gets used is very misleading.
So the ten men can all do a tenth of the labor now right?
Oh you're going to fire nine, cut the tenth's pay, and make him work even longer hours, and keep the vast majority of the profits for yourself, got it. That's fine too I guess...
That's probably one reason. There's just something about vaccines that makes people unreasonably paranoid though. I once saw a person about to get an infusion of a pretty dangerous immuno suppressing drug. They had a bad disease, it was worth the risks. They didn't seem all that concerned though. Before the infusion could happen there was a requirement to get a few vaccines. You know, to help prevent getting seriously ill while you're immuno suppressed. The vaccines won't work after the infusion, only before. Person fought their doctors for months refusing any vaccines before finally giving in, getting the vaccines, and finally getting the drug they need.
"Additional" evidence may have been a better word here. There is a ton of evidence of its safety. For so rarely causing complications compared to pretty much any other type of medical intervention, vaccines do get an insane amount of scrutiny to try and satisfy public phobias.
The size of the pieces is uneven, don't look!
No, they aren't allowed to do genetic testing for actual genetic diseases, like the mutation in this gene causes Huntington's Disease or something. They are allowed to comment on vague things like genetic modifiers of common diseases (like, people with this change have a relative risk of heart disease is 2.5% higher than the population).
They also don't have the capability to do that genetic testing for actual diseases safely or accurately. Or else they would have no problems complying with fda regulations that are in place for medical tests for good reason. There's tons of companies that do genetic testing, even whole exome and whole genome, it's easier than ever to get genetic testing done relatively cheaply. Those companies also have to do things like provide access to genetic counselors and followup family testing. 23andme doesn't want to do any of this stuff, they just wanted to charge you cash directly and plop a bunch of information directly in front of someone that's tough even for doctors and genetic counselors to interpret, and all the many many problems that would have led to.
What kind of PhD thesis? I'm kind of shocked they would say that. I'm in a scientific field, and it falls flat on its face whenever I start to get relatively subspecialized. Not that I haven't found some uses for it.
It's even worse when you consider there's no dedicated video memory, so this is shared between graphics and the rest of the system.