23andMe may offer premium DNA spit-test service

Company currently sells tests that cover ancestry and health, says it has no plans for immediate roll-out

Mountain View spit- kit DNA testing firm 23andMe wants to know how deep you want to go into your genome, and how much you’re willing to pay.

The company currently sells $ 100 ancestry tests and $200 tests that cover ancestry and health. But according to a new report, 23andMe has been market- testing a deeper dive into personal genetics.

“Some users have been getting notifications in recent weeks about a $749 ‘ premium’ service,” CNBC reported Wednesday.

Although clicking on the notifications reportedly produced no results, a company spokesperson confirmed it was testing interest in such a service, but wasn’t planning an immediate roll- out. What results premium testing might produce, in terms of health and ancestry information, was unclear.

Consumers wishing for insights into their ancestry and possible genetic health risks buy kits from 23andMe, and mail in a saliva sample that contains personal DNA.

The firm, which claims more than five million customers, announced in July with pharmaceuticals giant GSK that the two companies would work together on developing “innovative new medicines and potential cures,” using data from consenting 23andMe customers. The drugs firm was to provide a $ 300 million equity in- vestment in 23andMe.

Earlier this year, 23andMe said it would recruit 100,000 overweight but healthy spit- kit customers for a large- scale study intended to uncover the genetic reasons why diet and exercise have different effects on different people.

A report earlier this year cast doubt on the accuracy of ancestry tests conducted by 23andMe and other DNA-testing companies. After a Gizmodo reporter received drastically different ancestry results from 23andMe, National Geographic, Ancestry. com and Gencove — with 23andMe’s results “the most confounding of all” — representatives from the testing firms told this news organization that the DNA analysis produced estimates rather than certain results.