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Week of April 19 - April 26, 2009

Video transcript

Neil Cavuto: "Got this today. A new genetic testing kit that will tell you if you could get Alzheimer's or cancer. Navigenics is launching this home kit for $2,500 a pop.

"Now it uses a simple saliva sample to detect your risk to 18 various diseases. But would you want to know that? Well, here are people at the New York City launch with mixed feelings today:"

Interviewee #1: "Absolutely not. Personally not. This is it. We live now. Why would you pay to know this?"

Interviewee #2: "I feel like if it runs in your family and you think there would be a likelihood that you would have it, it might be worth it."

Interviewee #3: "I really wouldn't want to know. How would you prepare yourself? If you knew you were going to have these diseases, how would you prepare yourself?"

Neil: "Mari Baker is President and CEO of Navigenics. Mari, this is kind of spooky stuff, though, isn't it?"

Mari Baker, Navigenics President and CEO:

"Well, Neil, it's all about knowing. If you knew that you were at risk for getting a disease, if you knew you were at risk for something, wouldn't you want to go do something about it?

"Now, people have the choice. It's something you can choose to come and take advantage of our service. But it is really for those people who want to be empowered about their health, who don't want those surprises, and want to know the information so that they can take control."

Neil: "OK, but with some diseases that have no cure, you find out pretty much how you're going to die, right? "

Mari: "Well, everything we are reporting on has actionable steps you can take. It is one pf the principles that we have used in developing the service. Everything has an action step that you can take for either early detection and diagnosis so you can prevent complications, or in some cases, so you can prevent the disease altogether.

"Colon cancer is a great example of something in this country where the standard practice of medicine is to get screend at age 50. But thousands of people die every year before that age."

Neil: "But in other words, there would be something in the saliva that would be a marker that you might have a prediposition for this."

Navigenics now offers genetic tests for Alzheimer's

Mari: "That's right. So it might not make sense to screen everybody, but for those who have a high predisposition for colon cancer to get a screen done early so we can find those polyps early and deal with it before it becomes cancerous is a better solution."

Neil: "But you could get a whole nation of hypochondriacs going, right?"

Mari: "Yes, we could get people who got up and took advantage of this information to reduce their risk for disease and were healthier and it could be a clear part of improving the healthcare situation overall in this country."

Neil: "I always worry, Mari, if you get the wrong saliva. What happens if you misdiagnose someone, like 'Oh, you got Charlie's saliva'? "

Mari: "Well, the system has a number of precautions in place to help make sure we have the right saliva coming back for the right person matched up."

Neil: "OK, Mari, let's see how it goes. Thank you very much."

STUDIES AND TRIALS:

If you're thinking about taking a genetic test, you can be a big help to a research project going on at the University of Pennsylvania. They are trying to gather feedback from people who are considering taking such a test, and your feedback could well help many others facing this decision in the future.

Call Dr. Donna Messner at 215-614-0209. All it involves is a discussion by telephone, but the research promises to be of great help in working out the best way to make use of genetic testing technology for Alzheimer's.

MORE INFORMATION:

Navigenics.com

SOURCE:

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