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Old 12-01-2014, 10:13 AM   #8
'lizbeth
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Sunny San Diego
Posts: 2,214
Re: The Army of Women cancelled webinar response from Dr. Joanne Weidhaas

Look, I spoke with an employee of Illumina yesterday. It had nothing to do with our current conversation, they called me about an unrelated topic.

Of course, they are quite familiar with 23andme. We didn't speak of the accuracy of the testing. However, even with free cancer testing, employees must have the tests ordered by their physician.

I suspect that the past accuracy of the testing has been an issue. The current chip might be as accurate as you mentioned but it is a mute point. 23andme is not FDA approved to offer this service to patients. The only information available is for family research. And it takes more then equipment for accurate testing. The staff member and company procedures are a critical component of accuracy.

I checked on clinicaltrials.gov and there are only 2 trials currently being offered by 23andme. An observational study with Avastin based on questionnaires. I've taken research class and my instructor would not consider this type of study as valid as others. The Parkinson study sadly does not look like it fully enrolled and is close to the primary end point.

I did notice that 23andme is still advertising on cancerforum. They haven't learned their lesson yet. I suspect they will get stomped by the FDA again soon. You are enthusiastically looking for story from folks on "how they dodged a bullet". Guess what, I've seen the other side of this picture. Like Lani says, if the puppy can't get out the front door, its going to get out the window. Some patients need a strong doctor to push them toward making the best decisions.

You may be done with JW, but I'm just getting started. She has taken a new position at UCLA. She has a 10 year observational study that has just started with the KRAS variant. This is based on actual DNA information from participants. She is studying an area that can have an impact on improving standard of care. She is actively looking for new information. She is on the bleeding edge of technology. This is exactly the type of researcher I support. I do not expect her to be perfect. I've emailed her and her heart is in the right place.

I'm going to promote Dr. Weidhaas. I support her research into breast cancer, and I support her as a female in the difficult profession that she has.

You keep trying to build credibility for 23andme by tearing down other researchers that have little or nothing to do with this companies situation. It is not working and it is only making 23andme look bad. When this company has some legitimate medical information, please share. Otherwise can you please disconnect it from the KRAS variant research. It really has little or nothing to connect it other than they offer nonmedical testing that includes KRAS variant for cheap.

Last edited by 'lizbeth; 12-04-2014 at 01:29 PM.. Reason: grammer and the usual typos, deleted reference to an individual for privacy concerns
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