Protecting consumers from their own genetic data will come at a cost

(This is an edited excerpt from an op-ed piece I just wrote for Xconomy, posted here as I think it provides some nuance on my views on regulation of genetic testing that was lacking from my post last week.

Some context for new readers: a Congressional investigation into the direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing industry last week left a sour taste in the mouths of many observers of the embryonic industry; it was a vicious, one-sided affair, starring a biased report on a "sting" operation performed by the US Government Accountability Office. Along with other recent moves by the FDA, it potentially sets the scene for draconian regulation to be laid down on the industry. Here I argue that other, more careful approaches are the best way forward.

Regulation comes at a cost: each additional barrier thrown in the path of companies means increased costs to consumers, reduced competition (as entrepreneurs move into less burdensome fields), increased lag times between new discoveries and finished products, and ultimately weaker innovation. In some cases these costs are justified, which is why we tolerate a massive regulatory burden on pharmaceutical companies despite the resulting higher price of drugs. However, we must insist that each new regulatory obstacle be justified by the protection it provides to consumers.

Reputable DTC companies are already bound by regulation: their testing laboratories must be certified under Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) standards, which govern the technical accuracy of results. The false claims and unethical marketing highlighted in the GAO report would also seem to fall under the mandate of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who have already made some moves towards educating consumers about DTC genetic tests. It would seem appropriate to consider whether strengthening these existing mechanisms would serve consumers better than introducing FDA regulation.

Excessive regulation would devastate the industry, and that would harm more than just the companies involved. For all its faults, the DTC industry is currently an engine of innovation for technologies that will be crucial to the coming era of genomic medicine, such as intuitive interfaces for exploring large-scale genetic data. Close the industry down and those innovations will also disappear, with much broader negative consequences than the FDA or Congress appears to realise.

A way forward
There are alternatives to the paternalistic approach of locking tests away from consumers unless they're deemed to exceed some FDA-defined threshold: for instance, empowering consumers to make their own informed decisions about genetic testing products. Coupled with strengthening of the existing CLIA regulations and a boosted FTC mandate to purge the industry of scammers, such an approach would help to protect genetic test customers without destroying the innovative DTC industry.

As Dan Vorhaus and I have previously argued, the key to this approach will be increasing the transparency of the industry. As a starting point, creating a mandatory database of genetic testing products containing information about the scientific basis of companies' claims - preferably by building on the NIH's proposed Genetic Testing Registry - would provide a platform for consumers to make an informed comparison of reputable tests. It would also provide an even playing field for public critiques of the markers and algorithms used by each company, spurring the industry as a whole towards improving their products.

Crucially, this database would need to be accompanied by education of both consumers and clinicians about the value and limitations of existing genetic tests. These are complex issues, and challenging to convey to consumers without a PhD in statistical genetics; but as we move into an era where whole genome sequences move from luxury goods to cheap commodities, they are issues we must learn how to communicate - and soon.