The $50 million DNA test
A single test drastically changed the future for Parkinson’s disease
Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin’s mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. A neurodegenerative disease that affects the motor system. A disease that could be genetic.
In 2008 Brin pondered over the likeliness of getting the disease himself. He took a DNA test through 23andMe to find out. The test he took found the same mutation on his LRRK2 gene as his mother. A mutation called G2019S, which in some cases is linked to a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s.
He did as many of us would. He changed his lifestyle, he read about the disease and donated to the cause. However, this was no small donation from your average Joe. He donated $50 million to the research on Parkinson’s.
That amount of money is something that would make a huge impact in any research field. All thanks to a DNA test.
Brin expressed on his blog that he felt “fortunate to be in this position”, when the results arrived. Not only was he able to take a test that predicted his future health struggles. But his net worth made him equipped to improve the odds. As the Wired writer Thomas Goetz concluded:
“Brin is likely the first who, based on a genetic test, began funding scientific research in the hope of escaping a disease in the first place.”
But he will not be the last. These predictive gene tests could be a big player in the future of medicine. What these tests will be able to show could create a whole type of cash flow to charities and niche research.
The potential wealth of the test-taker would affect how much he or she could influence and change the future from the test results presented. Chances are that this would create a set of “affluence diseases” which only the 1 % can afford to fund.
These diseases are the ones that have been discovered from DNA-testing and the wealthy test-takers would have an increased risk for. And such results can not be guaranteed to always match the general population.
What happens if 3 of the world’s richest get a gene test that shows an increased risk of getting a disease that only affects a few dozen of people each year? But due to the kind of people it could potentially affect the funding is huge. One could wonder if diseases that are more likely to affect the average person would get less attention and funding due to their power.
This raises many questions. Should we hope that a millionaire carries the same risk for the same disease in the gene tests as we do? And how much faith can we put in these tests?
