{"id":543,"date":"2015-06-25T21:07:45","date_gmt":"2015-06-25T21:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genotopia.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=543"},"modified":"2015-06-25T21:07:45","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T21:07:45","slug":"hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the early days of personalized genomic medicine, skeptics wondered how tailored medical care could be profitable. Who would develop a drug for just one or a few people?<\/p>\n

Turns out they were looking in the wrong direction. The answer lies in genetic testing more than drug development.\u00a0A detailed report<\/a> in today’s New York Times examines how the promise of personalized or precision medicine is being “tainted” by hype. “Across the industry,” they write,<\/p>\n

\n

investors are pumping tens of millions of dollars into clinical laboratories that are developing and selling the genetic tests. President Obama recentlycalled on Congress<\/a> to spend $215 million next year on personalized medicine, calling it \u201cone of the greatest opportunities for new medical breakthroughs that we have ever seen.\u201d A major use of the federal funds would be to create a research group of a million volunteers that would provide scientists with an enormous collection of data.<\/p>\n

Doctors and their patients, finding it hard to resist the promise, are being swept up in the excitement. The number of tests has almost doubled in the last few years, creating a $6 billion industry.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While acknowledging that some genetic tests are proving highly valuable–particularly in diagnosing different forms of cancer, which can respond highly specifically to certain drugs depending on the mutation–they note that many genetic tests are\u00a0doing more to fatten corporate wallets than they are to improve patient care.\u00a0The tests often run to $1000 or more.<\/p>\n

WIth so much at stake, federal regulators are growing concerned about fraud. Turns out some doctors\u00a0are ordering and charging for tests that people don’t need!<\/p>\n

\n

An internal chart reviewed by The New York Times suggests the company was not shy about pointing out that doctors could amass a substantial income by participating. If a doctor enrolled five patients per day and took 110 swabs per month, that physician could earn as much as $125,400 in compensation from the study over a year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Shock and awe!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the early days of personalized genomic medicine, skeptics wondered how tailored medical care could be profitable. Who would develop a drug for just one or a few people? Turns out they were looking in the wrong direction. The answer lies in genetic testing more than drug development.\u00a0A detailed report in today’s New York Times … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[403,159,402,232,373,79,396],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fraud","tag-genetic-testing","tag-hope","tag-hype","tag-it-has-not-escaped-our-notice","tag-personalized-medicine","tag-precision-medicine"],"yoast_head":"\nHope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine - Genotopia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the early days of personalized genomic medicine, skeptics wondered how tailored medical care could be profitable. Who would develop a drug for just one or a few people? Turns out they were looking in the wrong direction. The answer lies in genetic testing more than drug development.\u00a0A detailed report in today’s New York Times ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Genotopia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-25T21:07:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathaniel Comfort\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathaniel Comfort\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/543\\\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/543\\\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nathaniel Comfort\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41\"},\"headline\":\"Hope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-25T21:07:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/543\\\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":331,\"commentCount\":2,\"keywords\":[\"fraud\",\"genetic testing\",\"hope\",\"hype\",\"It has not escaped our notice\",\"personalized medicine\",\"precision medicine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/543\\\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2015\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/543\\\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/543\\\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine - Genotopia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-25T21:07:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/543\\\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/543\\\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/543\\\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/\",\"name\":\"Genotopia\",\"description\":\"Here Lies Truth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41\",\"name\":\"Nathaniel Comfort\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nathaniel Comfort\"},\"description\":\"Nathaniel Comfort is a professor in the Department of the History of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University. From 1997 to 2002, he was on the history faculty at The George Washington University, where he also served as Deputy Director of the Center for History of Recent Science. The Center\u2019s director and founder was Horace Freeland Judson (The Eighth Day of Creation), who, along with John McPhee and Monty Python, Comfort considers among his biggest writing influences. Comfort\u2019s books include The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine (Yale, 2012), The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock\u2019s Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control (Harvard, 2001), and the edited volume, The Panda\u2019s Black Box: Opening Up the Intelligent Design Debate (Johns Hopkins, 2007). In addition to scholarly articles, he has written for Natural History, the New York Times Book Review, National Public Radio, Nature, Science, New Scientist, The Believer, and other publications. Should he expire tomorrow, he would be survived, in decreasing size order, by a son, a wife, a daughter, a dog, a cat, another cat, and still another cat.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/genotopia.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/author\\\/genotopia\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine - Genotopia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine","og_description":"In the early days of personalized genomic medicine, skeptics wondered how tailored medical care could be profitable. Who would develop a drug for just one or a few people? Turns out they were looking in the wrong direction. The answer lies in genetic testing more than drug development.\u00a0A detailed report in today’s New York Times ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/","og_site_name":"Genotopia","article_published_time":"2015-06-25T21:07:45+00:00","author":"Nathaniel Comfort","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nathaniel Comfort","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/"},"author":{"name":"Nathaniel Comfort","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/#\/schema\/person\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41"},"headline":"Hope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine","datePublished":"2015-06-25T21:07:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/"},"wordCount":331,"commentCount":2,"keywords":["fraud","genetic testing","hope","hype","It has not escaped our notice","personalized medicine","precision medicine"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2015","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/","name":"Hope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine - Genotopia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-25T21:07:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/#\/schema\/person\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/543\/hope-hype-and-in-precision-medicine\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hope, hype, and $$$ in precision medicine"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/","name":"Genotopia","description":"Here Lies Truth","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/#\/schema\/person\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41","name":"Nathaniel Comfort","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nathaniel Comfort"},"description":"Nathaniel Comfort is a professor in the Department of the History of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University. From 1997 to 2002, he was on the history faculty at The George Washington University, where he also served as Deputy Director of the Center for History of Recent Science. The Center\u2019s director and founder was Horace Freeland Judson (The Eighth Day of Creation), who, along with John McPhee and Monty Python, Comfort considers among his biggest writing influences. Comfort\u2019s books include The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine (Yale, 2012), The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock\u2019s Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control (Harvard, 2001), and the edited volume, The Panda\u2019s Black Box: Opening Up the Intelligent Design Debate (Johns Hopkins, 2007). In addition to scholarly articles, he has written for Natural History, the New York Times Book Review, National Public Radio, Nature, Science, New Scientist, The Believer, and other publications. Should he expire tomorrow, he would be survived, in decreasing size order, by a son, a wife, a daughter, a dog, a cat, another cat, and still another cat.","sameAs":["http:\/\/genotopia.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/author\/genotopia\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtNP1-8L","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}