

Low-cost Personal DNA Readings Are on the Way - dpapathanasiou
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19526203.900-lowcost-personal-dna-readings-are-on-the-way.html

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timr
There is an important lesson here: if you can get just _one_ high-profile
person to back you, your business idea -- no matter how silly or impractical
-- will make a splash.

The stated goal of 23andMe -- "personal genomics" -- has been a holy grail of
just about every geneticist and molecular biologist since the advent of DNA
sequencing. There are thousands of brilliant, experienced scientists who have
been working on the (substantial) technical problems for years...and yet, an
investor and a sales rep for Affymetrix are going to make it work?

No...the _only_ reason that 23andMe has traction is because one of the co-
founders is married to Sergey, and because Esther Dyson is on the board.
Beyond that, they've tackled a problem that is so big, they don't even know
how out-gunned they actually are.

~~~
whacked_new
Curious, how out-gunned are they?

Affordable DNA analysis could be a very sellable product. I had my DNA
analyzed before as part of a medical examination. (I believe what happened was
they tested for certain sequences that confer certain allergies or a
likelihood of developing some diseases). It wasn't cheap, not complete, nor
timely. If this is what 23andme is doing, and it's cheap enough like OTC
drugs, that's pretty cool.

~~~
timr
The problem isn't the concept -- the problem is their ability to execute on
the concept.

As I said above, "affordable DNA analysis" has been a holy grail for almost as
long as DNA sequencing has existed. Literally _everyone_ in the field of
genomics is working toward it; there's even steady research progress.

Unfortunately, saying that you're going to start a company to create
"affordable genomics", or whatnot, is a bit like saying that you're going to
start a company to sell affordable hydrogen-powered cars. The technology is
maybe-kinda-sorta-almost there, and the field is potentially lucrative, but
the reason that no one is really doing it is because the technical, social and
legal hurdles are still overwhelming. And once they're _not_ overwhelming, the
field will be flooded with competition from big, established players (i.e.
don't you think that ABI, Affymetrix, Merck, Pfizer, SKB, Amgen, Celera, etc.
don't want to be in this area, too?)

Even with all of that, I wouldn't discount 23andMe, but for the fact that the
company was founded by two people with absolutely _no_ experience in the
field. They have George Church as an "advisor", and he's a big name...but he's
also a big enough name that he would be starting his own company, if there was
a technology worth serious investment (most likely, 23andMe paid him a nice
little sum of money so that they could throw his name around).

Basically, this is a company with high-profile investment and a "wouldn't-it-
be-great-if" business plan. I can propose brilliant, high-concept ideas, too;
unfortunately, I'm not married to Sergey Brin....

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Alex3917
What the article doesn't mention is that 23andme was co-founded by Sergey
Brin's wife, Anne Wojcicki. Apparently he isn't investing, but Google is.

~~~
rms
Google's investment in 23andme's Series A paid off a loan that Sergey made to
the company.

[http://www.forbes.com/home/sciencesandmedicine/2007/09/12/ge...](http://www.forbes.com/home/sciencesandmedicine/2007/09/12/genomics-
wojcicki-brin-biz-sci-cx_mh_0912_23andme.html)

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dpapathanasiou
If you don't have an NS subscription, the full article is currently on the
index page at edge.org (right sidebar).

