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Press release

November 23, 2010 Foster City, CA

An Open Letter to the Surgeon General

November 23, 2010
The Honorable Regina Benjamin
Office of the Surgeon General
5600 Fishers Lane

Room 18-66
Rockville, MD 20857

Dear Dr. Benjamin,

Every year on Thanksgiving, the nation is called to action by National Family History Day launched by the Surgeon General in 2004. At a time when families are gathered, we are reminded that our family’s health history offers a window into our own health, providing insight on some of the heritable factors that may predispose us to particular health conditions. Family history – particularly gathered through the online platform – is an easy, accessible means by which we all can take greater control over our health. A seemingly small step, family history could provide us with a foundation on which we can collectively build a new era of disease prevention.

Beyond family history, we are also fortunate to have new scientific insight about how disease arises at the genetic level. Combining genetic information with family history, we now have the ability to approach prevention as never before and achieve a major impact on the lives of people.

As a physician and CEO for a personal genomics company, I wanted to express our profound support for your leadership on the issue of prevention. I would also like to extend an offer of service. We believe that there is much that can and should be done to realize a knowledge-based, prevention-focused healthcare system. Working together, public, private and nonprofit organizations can achieve a goal of lowering disease risk and improving health for all Americans. On behalf of the Navigenics team and others who share our passion for prevention, I propose that we embark on new national effort to educate and share knowledge about the many tools of prevention.

I write at a time when personalized, preventive medicine has never been more possible. Family history is a powerful starting point in assessing individual health and health risks. Knowing what medical conditions have affected a person’s blood relatives helps us as clinicians to better monitor and counsel our patients. Each of us is a product of two parents, each of whom contributes about half of our DNA. Which half each parent contributes is completely unpredictable. From conception, we differ from each other in the heritable traits given to us by our parents, as well as in our health predispositions.

Our company, Navigenics, was founded to improve understanding of individual predisposition to various health conditions. Leveraging a growing body of scientific knowledge, Navigenics created a service that gives individuals new insights into their risk of health conditions and provides support from qualified genetics professionals to put that information into context based on relevant family and medical history information. We believe, and recent research affirms, that empowering individuals with genetic information catalyzes new behaviors leading to a healthier life.

A few of the ways genetic information can complement family history in helping to foster preventive, personalized health care are highlighted below:

  1. Genetic information may evoke new and meaningful behavioral changes.
    2. A group of researchers led by David Kaufman, PhD, Director of Research and Statistics for the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University, conducted an online survey of more than 1,000 genetic testing customers. Overall, 58% of study participants said they learned new information that would help improve their health. As a result of testing, 34% of the participants said they were being more careful about their diet, 15% had changed their medication or dietary supplement regimens, and 14% were exercising more. These early studies, coupled with what we hear from practicing physicians, indicate that genetic information could be a strong motivator for healthier behaviors.

     

  2. Genetic information and family history capture different, yet complementary data.
    3. For many individuals, family history holds more questions than answers. Many families have gaps in knowledge or incomplete awareness of family medical facts. Even if an individual knows that a grandparent died of heart failure, the underlying cause or specifics of the condition may not be known. Some individuals have much larger gaps in their family history. There are millions of Americans with limited or no knowledge of their biological parents, and much of their blood relative’s health history can remain a mystery. For individuals with and without family health knowledge, personal genetic information can offer compelling clues to disease risk.

     

  3. Family history is an important, but for many an incomplete, picture of health.
    4. Family history and genetic testing are two sides of the same coin. These resources are complementary insofar as they capture different types of information. On one side of the coin, family history captures observable physical or biochemical characteristics or known clinical outcomes. On the other side, there are new advances every day that illuminate the way disease operates and the molecular or genetic level. Together, family history and genetic testing reveal a more comprehensive picture of health risk.

     

  4. Many diseases are complex and unpredictable
    5. Even with a thorough family history, complex conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes or cancer don’t present us with common familial patterns that help identify risk. While some diseases are easier to trace through a family tree, others are more puzzling. For example, data from the NCI’s Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility project shows that fewer than 25%(i) of those diagnosed with breast cancer have a family history of the disease. Similarly, the data shows that only slightly more than 10%(ii) of those with prostate cancer have a familial connection. Risk for these types of conditions is much more difficult to detect by looking at the health of immediate family.

Family history and genetic information together can be a winning combination, transforming the way we prioritize health care from a reactive to a prevention model. This seismic shift will require our collective strength and wisdom. As we gather generations of families together this holiday season, let us celebrate the future of our health, and the era of prevention.

We welcome the opportunity to work with you in this important national endeavor.

Sincerely,

Vance Vanier, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Navigenics, Inc.

i NCI CGEMS Breast Cancer data set: http://cgems.cancer.gov/data/, Hunter. Nat Genet 39:870. 2007
ii NCI CGEMS Prostate Cancer data set: http://cgems.cancer.gov/data/, Yeager. Nat Genet 39:645. 2007