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Veritas Genetics, a Boston-based biotech company co-founded by Harvard geneticist George Church, is claiming it can now sequence your entire genome — the genetic blueprint inside all your cells that makes you who and what you are — for less than $1,000. That price tag includes an interpretation of the results and genetic counseling.
If the claim is true, it would shatter a long-held barrier in genetic medicine.
The so-called $1,000 genome has long been a holy grail in genetics. While others — notably the company Illumina — have previously claimed to reach this milestone, these efforts did not include the cost of interpreting the results.
Veritas says it was the first to deliver the complete $1,000 genome in 2015, when it sequenced the genomes of nearly 5,000 participants in the Personal Genome Project (PGP) at Harvard Medical School.
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“Now that the whole genome is this accessible, it will replace all genetic tests … because it is all genetic tests, and much, much more,” Church said in a statement.
Veritas hopes that its test, called myGenome, will make it easier for customers to access their genetic information together with their doctors to make better health decisions.
Veritas is not a direct-to-consumer test. It requires you to order it through your doctor. However, you can place a pre-order now through the Veritas website, pending your doctor’s approval.
Read full, original post: This genetics company claims it just achieved a major milestone in biology – and it could transform personalized medicine
