23andMe Granted FDA Authorization for Genetic Test on Cancer Risk
I spent years working for a company which performed genetic testing for a variety of conditions, germline and somatic (IE, cancer).<p>Internally, the results we accumulated were only used for providing diagnoses, estimating population frequencies, and writing papers.<p>Other companies, however, like Guardant Health and Foundation One, initially provided inexpensive or free tests in order to build enormous patient data stores and were then bought by large pharmaceutical companies primarily for this data.<p>In the end, the patients were the product, and the cheap&#x2F;discounted tests were overhead cost in taking advantage of these people. I do not know where these companies are now, but my distaste for the industry was a large part of why I&#x27;ve chosen a different field of research.