Genetic testing company 23andMe has rebooted its services with Food and Drug Administration approval after being shut-down two years ago for marketing its product without federal clearance.
• The company was initially shutdown due to the potential health risks posed by alerting customers to genetic assessments that could be based on false positives or false negatives.
• The company's new FDA-approved "carrier test" tells customers whether they carry one of 36 chromosomal mutations that could be passed on to children.
• The test costs $199, double the price of the non-FDA approved test, and is capable of detailing customers' ancestry, genetic traits and wellness factors based on saliva samples.
• All samples 23andMe returns results for must be collected in FDA-approved containers and cannot be used for "diagnostic" purposes, meaning the results will not estimate the likelihood of developing a certain disease or passing on a mutated gene.
• 23andMe is also offering a wellness test that determines how a customer's DNA interplays with their consumptions of things like coffee, alcohol and milk. It also includes information about muscle composition and physical makeup by comparing habits between other customers' genetic data.
• The company's research team is working on building out more testing options and any users who have already purchased the service will have their samples retroactively run in the new tests.