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An alliance between Discover, the largest South African medical scheme and health insurer, and Human Longevity Inc., aims to launch the Vitality programme for DNA testing which seeks to promote general wellness.
The Human Longevity Inc. will offer genetic services to the clients who apply for Discovery’s Vitality programme. According to the two company coalition, the general price for reading a patient’s exome starts at $250, which is significantly lower than any other test that is offered on the market right now. The exome is the part of the genome that contains all 20,000 genes.
In the beginning, Discovery will initiate the programme only in South Africa and on the territory of the UK, where the company already has about 550,000 people signed up on their VitalityHealth market, which was formerly known as PruHealth until was acquired by Discovery in 2014.
The customers of the DNA analysis services will get a comprehensive report of their genome’s properties, including all the risks of diseases they face and suggestions on how to improve their overall health, wholly based on their DNA sequencing.
Human Longevity Inc. will examine Discovery’s DNA sequencing data near its headquarters in San Diego, then pass the results back to Discovery. Customers enlisted for the service will get individual reports based on the geneticians and network of doctors in charge with Vitality. Both companies promise that the results will be confidential and that they will never be used for studies, claiming “the highest standards of data security.”
DNA sequencing services are not an entirely new thing in the business, the technology is already helping people as we speak. J. Craig Venter, CEO and geneticist at The Institute for Genomic Research, said that his own genemic data suggested that he has a high risk of melanoma (skin cancer), therefore, when he found a potential melanoma on his back he had it removed instantly, before it could have developed into cancerous tissue.
The company’s service is designed to give its customers the right motivations to live more healthily, for instance, by exercising regularly and following specific diets.
Scientists at The Human Longevity Inc. are expecting to find more applications for DNA sequencing in the health care industry in the following years. All their customers will receive updates about any new advancement they’ll be making.
The two companies declared they are currently offering the only service in the world to give their patients genomic stats that could improve their general health. HLI and Discover together raised $80 millions only from investors for this year’s services
Photo Credits pixabay.com
