Veritas Genetics, a biotech company co-founded by Harvard geneticist George Church, is claiming it can now sequence your entire genome, the genetic blueprint inside all your cells that makes you who and what you are, for less than $1,000. That price tag includes an interpretation of the results and genetic counseling.
If the claim is true, it would shatter a long-held barrier in genetic medicine. The so-called $1,000 genome has long been a holy grail in genetics. While others, notably the company Illumina, have previously claimed to reach this milestone, these efforts did not include the cost of interpreting the results.
Veritas says it was the first to deliver the complete $1,000 genome in 2015, when it sequenced the genomes of nearly 5,000 participants in the Personal Genome Project (PGP) at Harvard Medical School.
“Now that the whole genome is this accessible, it will replace all genetic tests … because it is all genetic tests, and much, much more,” Church said in a statement.
Veritas hopes that its test, called myGenome, will make it easier for customers to access their genetic information together with their doctors to make better health decisions.
Veritas is not a direct-to-consumer test. It requires you to order it through your doctor. However, you can place a pre-order now through the Veritas website, pending your doctor’s approval.