Roger Fingas
DNA testing service 23andMe is piloting a program in which clients volunteer additional data such as lab results, collated in a style similar to Apple's Health Records.
Other submitted data can include prescriptions and medical history, CNBC said. Data is being passed between third parties and 23andMe by way of an outside medical data network called Human API.
The benefit, the company says, is a central place to access medical records, which are typically scattered across different providers. Apple has said the same of its Health Records. As structured, 23andMe's system has advantages over Apple's system including not just genetic data, but insights into risks for chronic disease.
Much of 23andMe's income comes selling aggregated data to biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms, however, which has raised privacy concerns. And while the firm says it has denied data requests from law enforcement six times, it has also reserved the right to turn over data "if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary."
Apple's Health Records provides similar centralization services, but only for easier viewing and sharing by individuals. CEO Tim Cook recently touted privacy policies as a key advantage of Apple in the health space.
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14 Comments
Welp, those of us with zero interest in giving up control of our genetic information are not at a loss here. 🤪
Given the 23andMe app still can’t figure out how to just import sleep and caffeine data from health in iOS for research, i think everyone is overestimating their ability
Apple has a sophisticated real time health data collection & third party analytics platform, which including importing genotyping data from 23andMe in ResearchKit. Unless the researchers figure out a huge usage of genotyping tomorrow and everyone is using 23andMe for the data source, Apple doing fine. (And that’s assuming we don’t need DNA Methylation sequencing and DNA sequencing, which map the actual gene and whether it is actually activated, not available from 23andMe, for such life changing application)
Of course, if you expect Apple gonna create all the health technology around the world, then yes, this is bad.
DNA ancestry tests are totally overrated and IMO not worth the money. There are so many variables it turns out they seem to not really guarantee much. And things like, “just because your results show 0% doesn’t mean you don’t have Native ancestry, etc. You just end up with a big bunch of questions and frankly I found the whole thing lacking and grossly unsatisfactory. Value and unfulfilling.