May 14th, 2008
Can Fox' genome help cure Parkinson's?
23andme has signed up The Parkinson’s Institute as a test market for its personal genome service. The effort is being underwritten by the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Since announcing he had Parkinson’s a decade ago, Fox (right) has built a charitable powerhouse which has donated over $120 million to finding cures for the disease which grips him.
But it’s also a big deal for 23andme, whose goal is that everyone know their personal genome.
The company has long sought to be treated seriously as a pioneer in mass market genetics. Instead it’s been dubbed a “ladies club” by wags, who note that co-founder Anne Wojcicci is married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin. (Most companies are built on old boys’ network and no one seems to notice.)
The company’s home page also somewhat trivializes genetic knowledge for the sake of PR, suggesting you get your genome banked to know who your ancestors are, or why you have your mother’s sense of taste.
The Parkinson’s deal is as serious as Fox’ condition, even though it will include development of a social networking platform for patients and families.
The Institute’s patients will provide a baseline in which environment, treatment, and genetic data can be compared, and new surveys created on risk factors for the disease.
“The existing model for clinical research does not have access to a large enough pool of study participants to identify the cause and early indicators of Parkinson’s disease,” says the press release dryly.
Now it will.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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