Category Archives: Genetic Therapy

U.S. spending on genetic tests jumps

LOS ANGELES -- Spending on genetic tests has reached $5 billion annually and could top $25 billion within a decade, according to an insurance industry study published Monday.

The rise in spending is likely to intensify the debate over genetic testing as policymakers and employers struggle to contain spiraling health care costs.

The growing availability of genetic and molecular diagnostic tests offers the promise of earlier detection of disease and more personalized treatments that could wring substantial savings from the nation's $2.6 trillion-a-year health care tab.

But many medical providers and other experts worry that those benefits may be outweighed by indiscriminate use of genetic testing, similar to what has occurred with some spending on popular prescription drugs and expensive imaging tests.

The research arm of UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation's largest insurer with 34 million members, conducted the study as well as a survey of physicians and patients on their attitudes toward genetic testing. Researchers and patient advocates have not only raised questions about costs but also expressed ethical and legal concerns about how genetic test results are used by families, insurance companies and physicians.

The study estimates the nation spent about $5 billion on these tests in 2010, and it projects spending to reach $15 billion to $25 billion by 2021.

"We are now in the era of truly personalized care," said Reed Tuckson, chief of medical affairs at UnitedHealth. "However, this also poses significant challenges to a system that is increasingly unaffordable."

The Minnetonka, Minn., company estimated its members in private plans, Medicare and Medicaid spent $483 million on genetic tests in 2010 with 40 percent related to infectious diseases, 16 percent for cancer and the rest for inherited disorders and other conditions.

Average annual spending on genetic tests for UnitedHealth members increased 15 percent from 2008 to 2010, driven by higher utilization. Much of the current spending is focused on women because of the wide array of tests available for breast and ovarian cancers as well as prenatal genetic testing.

In a Harris Interactive survey of 1,254 physicians included in the report, 56 percent said new genetic tests will drive up overall health care spending, compared with only 19 percent who thought they will lower costs from improved care.

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Research and Markets: Genetic Engineering – Global Outlook

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/719d98/genetic_engineerin) has announced the addition of the "Genetic Engineering - Global Outlook" report to their offering.

The global outlook series on Genetic Engineering provides a collection of market briefs and concise summaries of research findings. The report offers an aerial view of the industry, highlights latest developments, and discusses demand drivers, issues and concerns, and regulatory environment. Discussion on the industry's most noteworthy regional market, the US, is amply detailed with unbiased research commentary to provide the reader a rudimentary understanding of the prevailing market climate. Market discussions in the report are punctuated with fact-rich market data tables.

Regional markets elaborated upon include United States, Canada, India, China, and South Africa among others. Also included is an indexed, easy-to-refer, fact-finder directory listing the addresses, and contact details of 153 companies active in the market.

Key Topics Covered:

1. INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

2. MARKET DYNAMICS

3. ISSUES AND CONCERNS

4. REGIONAL TRENDS

5. GENETIC ENGINEERING: AN OVERVIEW

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Research and Markets: Genetic Engineering - Global Outlook

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Spending on genetic tests is forecast to rise sharply by 2021

Spending on genetic tests has reached $5 billion annually and could top $25 billion within a decade, according to an insurance industry study published Monday.

The rise in spending is likely to intensify the debate over genetic testing as policymakers and employers struggle to contain spiraling healthcare costs.

The study estimates the nation spent about $5 billion on these tests in 2010, and it projects spending to reach $15 billion to $25 billion by 2021.

The Minnetonka, Minn., company estimated its members in private plans, Medicare and Medicaid spent $483 million on genetic tests in 2010 with 40% related to infectious diseases, 16% for cancer and the rest for inherited disorders and other conditions.

Average annual spending on genetic tests for UnitedHealth members increased 15% from 2008 to 2010, driven by higher utilization. Much of the current spending is focused on women because of the wide array of tests available for breast and ovarian cancers as well as prenatal genetic testing.

In a Harris Interactive survey of 1,254 physicians included in the report, 56% said new genetic tests will drive up overall healthcare spending, compared with only 19% who thought they will lower costs from improved care. Seventy-four percent of doctors said there are patients in their practice who would benefit from a genetic test.

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Spending on genetic tests is forecast to rise sharply by 2021

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Audubon center in Algiers logs another breakthrough in genetic engineering of endangered cats

A year after introducing the first pair of rare African black-footed kittens conceived through in vitro fertilization, the scientists at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in Algiers have announced the arrival of another kitten that, genetically, is their sister, and the first kitten of her type to be carried in the womb of a domestic cat. The same parents contributed to the frozen embryos that produced the two males born last year and this year's female.

A black-footed cat served as the surrogate mother for last year's litter. Researchers next sought to show that vastly more plentiful domestic cats can serve as surrogate mothers in efforts to save the small wild cat from extinction.

"Being able to use domestic cats adds another extra dimension to that, being able to produce more," said Earle Pope, acting director of the center. Only 53 of the cats, which are native to South Africa, live in zoo collections in the United States.

Domestic and African black-footed are different species of cat but members of the same group of felines. Their similar sizes and gestation lengths, Pope said, appear to be what made the pregnancy and birth physically possible even though the genetic makeup of the kitten differed from the mother.

"They're considered to be of the same lineage," he said. "Somewhere back a couple of million years ago, they're descended from the same ancestor."

The kitten, named Crystal, was born on Feb. 6 to domestic cat Amelie without any human assistance in the birth itself. It exhibits all the characteristics of a black-footed cat despite being nurtured by a domestic cat mother, Pope said.

"It's not changed genetically in any way," from other black-footed cats, he said. "It is totally a black-footed cat in behavior."

Researchers handle the kitten almost every day as they study it, but she remains decidedly unadapted to human contact.

"It just wants you to leave it alone and stay away from it," Pope said. "It gets along beautifully with the domestic cat mother. They don't know, or do not care, that it's a different species."

Scientists started gathering the genetic material that eventually created the kitten in 2003, when they collected and froze a sperm sample from a black-footed cat named Ramses that lived at a research center in Nebraska. In 2005, they thawed the sperm and combined them with eggs from Zora, a cat living at Audubon. That produced 11 embryos, which went into deep freeze.

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Audubon center in Algiers logs another breakthrough in genetic engineering of endangered cats