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What's revolutionary about 400 SNPs for $599? There's absolutely no chance to compete with that kind of product and pricing.

by lvs 14y ago

rcthompson 14y ago
To pose the same question in another way: what does Counsyl give you for $599 that companies like 23andMe don't already give you for $99? I couldn't find anything on the counsyl website that addresses this. Edit: Actually, I think the difference might be that Counsyl is marketing to a clinical market, as opposed to 23andMe which is direct-to-consumer. Since I've read that 10x price overhead for clinical stuff is typical (from a link on HN a while ago), maybe $599 isn't too bad a price in that market for something that is $99 direct-to-consumer. Who knows?
- buss 14y ago
  The primary difference is that we're performing a clinical grade test that gives our patients actionable information. We only test for autosomal recessive disorders that will affect the health of your children. Unless you've been tested before, you don't know if you're a carrier. If both parents test positive for the same mutation then your child has a 25% chance of being born with the disease. This information allows you to make an informed decision about how to bring a healthy child into the world. (You have a few options once you have our test results -- in-vitro, adoption, or a normal pregnancy if the disease is manageable). 23andMe gives you SNP mutation results for many more genes that may or may not be associated with the disease that they report. They do a pretty good job of curation, but their SNPs do not guarantee your future disease status. Knowing that I have 2.3% higher odds of getting diabetes later in life is not going to meaningfully impact my day-to-day life, I already knew diabetes runs in my family, after all. 23andMe is great, don't get me wrong (many of us at Counsyl are 23andMe members, including myself), but they provide a different service for a different market. Our test requires a doctor's prescription and we include a free genetic counseling session (from our own licensed genetic counselors) for all patients. Finding out that you and your partner are carriers for a serious disease can be a big surprise and cause a lot of confusion and stress. We have great GCs to explain the effects of each disease and how they could manage it in a child, if they choose to have a normal pregnancy. We're more than just a SNP testing lab, we want to give you all of the information you need to have a healthy pregnancy. disclosure: I am a software developer at Counsyl, currently working on insurance automation and internal tools for our support staff.
- doublescythe 14y ago
  Counsyl's test is at most $99 if you do not have insurance. Most major insurance companies now cover the test, so you're usually just making a $20 co-pay. You're looking at the insurance billing rate - compare $599 to tens of thousands of dollars that Lab Corp or Quest charge to screen just a few diseases. Counsyl screens for over 150+.

What's revolutionary about 400 SNPs for $599? There's absolutely no chance to compete with that kind of product and pricing.

by lvs 14y ago

What's revolutionary about 400 SNPs for $599? There's absolutely no chance to compete with that kind of product and pricing.

rcthompson 14y ago

To pose the same question in another way: what does Counsyl give you for $599 that companies like 23andMe don't already give you for $99? I couldn't find anything on the counsyl website that addresses this. Edit: Actually, I think the difference might be that Counsyl is marketing to a clinical market, as opposed to 23andMe which is direct-to-consumer. Since I've read that 10x price overhead for clinical stuff is typical (from a link on HN a while ago), maybe $599 isn't too bad a price in that market for something that is $99 direct-to-consumer. Who knows?

buss 14y ago
The primary difference is that we're performing a clinical grade test that gives our patients actionable information. We only test for autosomal recessive disorders that will affect the health of your children. Unless you've been tested before, you don't know if you're a carrier. If both parents test positive for the same mutation then your child has a 25% chance of being born with the disease. This information allows you to make an informed decision about how to bring a healthy child into the world. (You have a few options once you have our test results -- in-vitro, adoption, or a normal pregnancy if the disease is manageable). 23andMe gives you SNP mutation results for many more genes that may or may not be associated with the disease that they report. They do a pretty good job of curation, but their SNPs do not guarantee your future disease status. Knowing that I have 2.3% higher odds of getting diabetes later in life is not going to meaningfully impact my day-to-day life, I already knew diabetes runs in my family, after all. 23andMe is great, don't get me wrong (many of us at Counsyl are 23andMe members, including myself), but they provide a different service for a different market. Our test requires a doctor's prescription and we include a free genetic counseling session (from our own licensed genetic counselors) for all patients. Finding out that you and your partner are carriers for a serious disease can be a big surprise and cause a lot of confusion and stress. We have great GCs to explain the effects of each disease and how they could manage it in a child, if they choose to have a normal pregnancy. We're more than just a SNP testing lab, we want to give you all of the information you need to have a healthy pregnancy. disclosure: I am a software developer at Counsyl, currently working on insurance automation and internal tools for our support staff.
doublescythe 14y ago
Counsyl's test is at most $99 if you do not have insurance. Most major insurance companies now cover the test, so you're usually just making a $20 co-pay. You're looking at the insurance billing rate - compare $599 to tens of thousands of dollars that Lab Corp or Quest charge to screen just a few diseases. Counsyl screens for over 150+.