Booming Lab Test Business and Web Sites
I just got back from speaking on a panel at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry's annual convention, held this year in Chicago. The topic was patient education, and I made reference to a previous post here on soft-sell drug advertising during the Stanley Cup finals, and the way GlaxoSmithKline was "educating" people about its blockbuster asthma drug Advair. One topic emerging from the panel was the new trend in "personalized medicine" (so hot it's become an instant cliche, according to one of the panelists), in which your DNA is examined to determine your specific health risks now and in the future, and how to deal with them. The panel seemed split on the merits of personalized medicine, maybe leaning towards "overhyped." I wish I had this report in hand before the panel, in which the U.S. General Accounting Office examines nutrigenetic testing (basically, direct-to-consumer DNA tests) by mystery-shopping four Web sites.
The conclusion is not pretty. "The results from all the tests GAO purchased mislead consumers by making predictions that are medically unproven and so ambiguous that they do not provide meaningful information to consumers," says the report, without naming the sites. The tests range in price up to $400. Some companies also offer personalized prescription treatment plans costing nearly $2 grand along with the tests.
The lab test business is booming (especially for diabetes), and one of the likely factors is Big Pharma's megaspending on drug advertising. The bottom line is, talk anything over with your doctor first, and if you're trying to educate yourself, use sites like the AACC's Lab Tests Online, one of the first signatories to WebWatch's credibility campaign.