New York – The largest U.S. drugstore chain, Walgreen Co., will start selling genetic testing kits at many of its stores later this month, according to Pathway Genomics, which makes the kits.
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Pathway said Tuesday that Walgreen will sell saliva swab kits that are used to determine predisposition for chronic diseases, and response to common drugs like Plavix, Tamoxifen and Coumadin.
They can also be used to determine if a person carries a gene for diseases like Alzheimer’s, cystic fibrosis, and Tay-Sachs disease.
The tests will be available at Walgreen stores starting in mid-May, it said.
The company said the testing kits will cost $20 to $30 each and will include a saliva collection kit and a postage-paid envelope that customers can use to send their saliva sample to the Pathway laboratory.
Customers can then go Pathway’s Web site and order tests. Pathway says the tests — for drug response, “pre-pregnancy planning” and “health conditions” — start at $79 and run up to $249 for all three.
Pathway is based in San Diego. Walgreen, which is headquartered in Deerfield, Ill., runs about 7,500 stores in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Pathway said the test will not be available in New York due to state law.
Other companies, including Navigenics Inc. and 23andMe Inc., also offer direct-to-consumer genetic testing, spawned by recent genetic discoveries.
State and federal public health officials, however, have urged consumers to be skeptical, noting that related research is in its earliest stages and doctors have little training in interpreting the results.
I would not trust this at all. There are very few labs that specialize in genetic testing of particular diseases and there are a lot of false positives of false negatives because of contamination in the process. Leave it to the pros with a track record of accurate and quality lab work.
good its time 2 put dor yesharim and their crazy prices out of buissnes!
Great news! maybe something finally that could knock out this money making attitude organisation Dor Yeshorim which is a very important thing in our community, but unfortunately run’s with such attitudes & rishes. As i’m involved in many shiddichim I know far too many cases that proves that they only have in mind their own pockets & don”t care about the community.
Dor Yesurim has a confidential system in place where they are trusted that the bucher and the meidel took the test and they notify the inquirer only if the other is a match with you, or not , no one can be moitsa Shem on the other that he is a Carrier, the only thing they know is this pair is not a match
So Dor Yeshurim has 3 benefits
1) they tell the boy and girl that “”this “” match are not carriers so the shiduch can go ahead ,
2) they tell the boy and girl that “”this”” match is not comparable, more counseling is advised IF to Proceed
3) you can not take revenge on someone that did not want to be Meshadech with You that you Know he is a Carrier because the Dor Yeshurim system does not disclose or even know such information
I would pay for Dor Yehurim every penny they are asking for the above benefits,
now if you want to use Walgreens test go ahead , I would not trust you to tell me Your results
Great news! I hope this will put dor yesharim out of business once and for all. The rushes that they have been involved and the gneiva they’ve conducted over the years are astonishing. Thru this new system, only one side will have to get tested, if results are negative, no testing of the other side is required. Wow! What a breakthru.
you can always find out if you are a carrier. it’s called genetic testing. any dr. can order that blood test.
i wold still the trust the results of the test to a non related source ,
better safe then sorry
Um, if a match is not acceptable, in the case of most diseases out there- both have to be carriers. Its all in the genetics.
Why do all these tests? We are just prohibiting certain couples from getting married and diluting the pool of “global ashkenazi genes” so we will be facing a larger crises in 2 generations or so. Are we just buying time until a cure is found? Most are carriers for something now- it happened because we have been killed off several times over our history until we are only a fraction of where we were.
Morally, is this ok? Our grand children will be facing an even bigger crises- everyone will have the carrier gene (it happens when only one parent is a carrier, then each kid has a high chance of getting the carrier gene….a couple of generations down and the odds that everyone has it is likely) and every family will have a kid with this disease! we are only buying time!
Why should there be a stigma associated with being a Tay-Sachs carrier? A significant portion of the ashkenazic community are carriers. For some recessive traits, such as sickle cell anemia, there are health problems associated with being a carrier. But that’s not the case with Tay-Sachs. Now that Dor Yeshorim and others have done such a good job of educating everyone about Jewish recessive diseases, perhaps we can be trusted to know our carrier status.
How does this testing works? If one side is positive will he/she be always positive with any other partner.. and what about this new genetic testing for breast cancer do they do this type of testing too?
totally agree with #3 this has to stop the prices keep going up every few years and when b”H we have big families????
For all those people screaming about Dor Yeshorim, do any of you know how much of the 475$ they charge goes to them? The labs they are using are high quality labs that aren’t cheap. Also, they are testing for much more than just Tay-sachs today, and so the lab price is high.
There should be a system whereby your Dr can order it – bill your insurance – and forward the results to them.
I would not trust a family to be honest about their tay-sachs status, as we have all heard about shiduchim where serious physical or mental illnesses were hidden.
Dor Yesharim refuses to test anyone if they find out you have already been tested so if you go to a shadchan and the American ones will usually insist on Dor Yesharim and if you tell Dor Yesharim the truth they will not test you and consequently you can never get a shidduch.
It just so happens that this attitude benefits Dor Yesharim because it gives them a monopoly on the tests.
The other tests done in other countries are done by government certified labs and are free
Dor Yesurim (Dor Reshoim) refuses to give me my number, which I mislaid, even though they have my SS# and I am abroad in a country in which I cannot get tested. Now I will have to retest in EY (closest place) and pay again. Another great organization that just got too big and has too many mice nibbling at the cheese.
Unfortunately for all of the very opinionated people here
– you are arguing about nothing.
This test will not be sold, the FDA barred it from stores.
Walgreen will not be selling this DNA test, as they have no approval to do so – not from New York – from anywhere in the USA…
So either read/listen/watch the news (where you can learn that this test will NOT be sold. Anywhere) or at least stop arguing over non-existant points.
I paid for Yenta PlopelZak my daughters shadchenta $ 5000.00 and she assured me that my SIL Zurech has no mental condition she claimed she knew it for a fact even it ran in the family ,she also convinced me that dor yeshurim is a waste of money ,and she showed me the test done by a private doctor, i was fooled on both issues
dor Yeshurim is worth every penny , had we used Dor yeshurim we would have been spared the nightmare my family is into now
Y.S.C. you are right I will add further that the leading rabbinical authorities are guiding the Dor Yeshorim / doryeshorim program and of course medical professionals are also there. The careful evaluation is done on every disease and every policy. Their results are very reliable.