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Published online 29 October 2008 | Nature 455, 1155 (2008) | doi:10.1038/4551155a
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Alzheimer's tests under fire
Gene test is taken off the market.
Genetic testing for Alzheimer's disease tells a cautionary tale about the legal, medical and ethical complications of personal genomics, as the story of a Pennsylvania company shows.
Smart Genetics, based in Philadelphia, has stopped offering its controversial 'Alzheimer's Mirror' genetic test just eight months after introducing it.
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The issue of genetic tests for common disorders will always remain complex. APOC1, APOE .. and so on, the list will grow. This variant or that, there will always be other surrogates. I think intellectual property rights should be granted only for the original discovery of a gene/protein in susceptibility for a given disease.