Genome Cure for Ill Twins Paves Breakthrough to Doctor’s Office

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-30/genome-proving-cure-for-ailing-twins-paves-breakthrough-to-doctor-s-office.html



By the time his twins Noah and Alexis were 12 years old, Joe Beery and his wife Retta had spent a decade trying to figure out what made their children so ill. After Joe took a job at Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE), a California company that makes DNA sequencers, their luck turned.

The company’s machines revealed that the twins had been misdiagnosed and incompletely treated for more than a decade. New medication put an end to an illness that had caused vomiting, muscle weakness and seizures. Their daughter, who had spells of breathing difficulties that turned her skin blue, was healthy again.

“Genome sequencing literally saved her life,” Retta Beery said.

Nine years after scientists sequenced the first complete human genome -- the instruction manual for making all the body’s cells -- the industry is poised for a series of takeovers and technological breakthroughs that will bring the technology into doctor’s offices and patient hospital rooms. Equipment made by Life Technologies and Illumina Inc. (ILMN) is spewing out human genome sequences faster than ever and prices will soon drop to $1,000, below that of many widely used diagnostic procedures, such as colonoscopies.

Roche Holding AG’s hostile $5.7 billion bid for Illumina may spark additional deals as pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies race to bring DNA scanning into routine medical use, analysts said.
Changes in Oncology

[Tansy_Gold]

1. Why should health care technology be controlled for profit? Why? n/t

[xchrom]

2. It shouldn't.

That's the problem w/ 'conventional wisdom' - it can be a killer.

[bemildred]

3. Well, apparently, we are supposed to think nobody would make stuff unless they can get rich.

Which seems like a classic case of projection to me. It's them that won't make stuff if they can't get filthy rich, and that's why we need to get rid of them.

[hedgehog]

4. I think that one problem that is already turning up is

that many conditions are not binary. For example, if you have mutation A and it causes condition A, that would be a binary. But if A &B produce condition C, but only in the absence of Gene D and only if there is a Vitamn D deficiency.......now you have a harder time making a connection. For example, I found out that members of my family are carriers for a gene that interferes with the metabolism of B vitamins. Now, if you have two of these genes, you will have a certain set of problems. But people who are only carriers may or may not have any from a set of associated problems. There seems to be a connection, but to prove the connection would require such a vast data collection that it is unlikely anyone will ever tackle it. In our case, it is simpler, cheaper and more effective to skip testing everyone for the gene, and to treat those with certain symptoms with high doses of B vitamins. If the B vitamins work, wonderful!. If not, back to the drawing board.