WEBVTT - Improving Healthcare Through Genetic Testing

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and

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<v Speaker 1>Jason Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. Yeah, we want to talk

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit about healthcare, um, medical treatments, and genetic testing,

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<v Speaker 1>because genetics and genetic testing are already changing medicine and

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<v Speaker 1>healthcare approaches, certainly changing it as we've known it. Our

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<v Speaker 1>next guest has some thoughts on the next era of

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<v Speaker 1>genetic testing. Sean George is CEO of in Vita, joining

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<v Speaker 1>us on the phone from San Francisco. So, Sean, first

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<v Speaker 1>of all, I've been checking out your website. My co

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<v Speaker 1>host been Signorala doing the same thing. And tell me

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit about what you guys do specifically. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>So we have a sample to answer process that at

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<v Speaker 1>its at its core level, answer the question, can we

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<v Speaker 1>explain uh, you know, uh in a family history of

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<v Speaker 1>of of disease? Can we explain for any adividual symptoms

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<v Speaker 1>or or problems are having with their health and then

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<v Speaker 1>for a whole batch of other disorders, can we screen

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<v Speaker 1>whether it's a woman thinking of having starting you know,

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<v Speaker 1>starting a family or having a child, or at a

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<v Speaker 1>population level, uh, screen for disease that will cause negative outcomes?

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<v Speaker 1>Increase healthcare costs UH and all across the board, across

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<v Speaker 1>all disease areas, across all stages in life. We have

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<v Speaker 1>been building a company to bring genetic information into mainstream

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<v Speaker 1>medical care for the roughly two billion people on the

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<v Speaker 1>planet in modern modern economies that we think can use

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<v Speaker 1>it all. Right, so you need the genetic information right

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<v Speaker 1>to do something with it. So tell me how it works.

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<v Speaker 1>Are you at this point, you know, just bringing in

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<v Speaker 1>patients and gathering their genetic information and then applying it

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<v Speaker 1>to treatment. Help me make that that that jump here.

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<v Speaker 1>So are our customers are typically seeing a clinician, whether

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<v Speaker 1>it's a disease area that is affecting their family or

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<v Speaker 1>for for which the symptoms that are presenting indicate, or

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<v Speaker 1>for example, a lot of our customers are women who

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<v Speaker 1>are visiting their obi and either newly pregnant or thinking

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<v Speaker 1>about starting a family. And those are the points in

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<v Speaker 1>life when the question comes to very you know, it

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<v Speaker 1>could could anything here be explained by genetics? Is there

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<v Speaker 1>anything that we can do by way of prevention delaying

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<v Speaker 1>the onset of disease? Um you know, decisions to avoid

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<v Speaker 1>one way or the other, or therapeutic decisions to treat

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<v Speaker 1>these disorders and those that's the type of information we

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<v Speaker 1>provide for the patient, our customers themselves, and the clinicians

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<v Speaker 1>who are caring for them. So how accurate are the tests?

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<v Speaker 1>I mean if you say to someone, um, you you're

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<v Speaker 1>you have the propensity or or a higher percentage to

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<v Speaker 1>to to have a down syndrome child, just say, for instance, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>and they choose not to have children or abort the child. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>what what type of accuracy rate do you put to

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<v Speaker 1>that type of superstantial decision? Right, So across our menu,

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<v Speaker 1>whether it's cancer, cardiovascular disorders, pediatric neurology, or as you

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<v Speaker 1>as you point out a lot of the reproductive health

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<v Speaker 1>testing and screening. Uh, you know, our accuracy is the

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<v Speaker 1>best in class medical genetics than the you know, it's measured.

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<v Speaker 1>There's a handful of statistics that our clients really pay

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<v Speaker 1>attention to, sensitivity specificity, positive predicted value, negative predicted value,

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<v Speaker 1>and on those measures, our tests are world class, highest grade,

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<v Speaker 1>trusted by key opinion leaders, and genetics across all all

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<v Speaker 1>all disciplines and all disease areas well. And you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, showing the debate that's out there First of all,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, you're giving up your genetic makeup. That's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of personal information, and I do think there's a

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<v Speaker 1>security aspect to it. But I do wonder, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>are we getting to the stage where everybody's going to

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<v Speaker 1>be genetically mapped and it's going to say, okay, you

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<v Speaker 1>have a propensity for X, Y, and Z. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>is that kind of where things are going? And does

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<v Speaker 1>it ultimately lead to better healthcare, treatment, medical care and

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<v Speaker 1>longevity for individuals or are their false positives that might

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<v Speaker 1>create I don't know, stress that doesn't need to be there.

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<v Speaker 1>So the short answer to both of those is yes.

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<v Speaker 1>Also the first the first ndoubtedly, undoubtedly genetics. Genetics has

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<v Speaker 1>a far larger impact on the health of an individual

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<v Speaker 1>and their senate family and the population than is currently

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<v Speaker 1>being practice in medicine today. Um. You know, this is

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<v Speaker 1>just math. We know the uh the degree to which

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<v Speaker 1>these genetic this genetic variation of flicks of population uh

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<v Speaker 1>it the impact is very large. And by bringing this

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<v Speaker 1>information about, you know, we've we've we've spent the last

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<v Speaker 1>ten years lowering the costs of this information and increasing

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<v Speaker 1>the access to it, the ease of use and in

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<v Speaker 1>doing so, we think we can bring this information into

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<v Speaker 1>mainstream medical care, which will no doubt improve outcomes and

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<v Speaker 1>lower costs. UH. To your second point, you do have

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<v Speaker 1>have to do it. You do have to do it

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<v Speaker 1>in a medically responsible way. UH. This is information that

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<v Speaker 1>no matter what the reason is for an individual seeking

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<v Speaker 1>the information, once you have information that confers a significantly

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<v Speaker 1>high risk of some disorder, UM, your next steps will

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<v Speaker 1>be medical in nature. You will be in the medical continuum.

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<v Speaker 1>You will be asking questions about insurance reimbursement or who's

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<v Speaker 1>gonna pay for downstream treatment? And that's why you know

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<v Speaker 1>it's we we believe it's essential to approach this from

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<v Speaker 1>medical perspective. As we have the last ten years, we've

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<v Speaker 1>built what I believe can be said as the number

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<v Speaker 1>one brand in genetics in the healthcare continuum. And and

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<v Speaker 1>to the extent of the data, privacy is a question.

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<v Speaker 1>This is where you know, in in that context, this

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<v Speaker 1>is like any other visit to your doctor. UH. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>we are HIPO covered entity. The information is being generated

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<v Speaker 1>as it is on a CT scan or an ultrasound

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<v Speaker 1>or any other lab test, and that information is protected

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<v Speaker 1>by hip HOP. Uh. It's used in confidential, in confidence

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<v Speaker 1>for the to the benefit of the patient uh and

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<v Speaker 1>and in specifically at in vita, as we think about

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<v Speaker 1>moving the entire genetic testing industry forward to one away

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<v Speaker 1>from test by test, sample by sample, indication by indication,

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<v Speaker 1>to one of genetic information used in the background for

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<v Speaker 1>patient's behalf. Founding principle of companies that patients own and

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<v Speaker 1>control their data. And so in addition to all of

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<v Speaker 1>the regulations that control you know, that cover medical providers

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<v Speaker 1>that we comply with, we in addition have as a

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<v Speaker 1>as a foundational concept that we only take that data

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<v Speaker 1>and send it to ecosystem players at the behest of

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<v Speaker 1>the patient and the explicit consent of the patient for

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<v Speaker 1>their behalf. So I can see where you say, a

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<v Speaker 1>large part of your your clients of women obviously in

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<v Speaker 1>the reproductive field and perhaps evens um you know the

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<v Speaker 1>genetics behind breast cancer for instance, UM, but for other

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<v Speaker 1>things like you know, for men, for instance, trying to

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<v Speaker 1>track some sort of cancer that may be hereditary in

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<v Speaker 1>the family. You know, can that information really help? I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>if you tell someone that you know you are prone

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<v Speaker 1>to a particular cancer, you know, what could you really

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<v Speaker 1>do to prevent it, and just got about thirty seconds

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<v Speaker 1>forgive me go ahead. Absolutely. The short answer to that

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<v Speaker 1>is yes, absolutely. I'll give you one quick example, prostate cancer.

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<v Speaker 1>Men with prostate cancer could benefit from having their genetic

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<v Speaker 1>information known where the leaders and prosect cancer sent. I

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<v Speaker 1>can tell you very few men get that information used

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<v Speaker 1>on their behalf. And what happens is you can prognosticate

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<v Speaker 1>different outcomes, how metastatic the cancer will be, how aggressive

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<v Speaker 1>the treatment and monitoring should be, and in some cases

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<v Speaker 1>point to specific therapies that can have greater effects. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>very very interesting. Keep us posted on the work that

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<v Speaker 1>you're doing, because some I do think we talked about

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<v Speaker 1>medical industry really is the one that is the latest

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<v Speaker 1>to be disrupted. But we're starting to see a pickup

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<v Speaker 1>in some of the activity. Sean George, Sean George, excuse me,

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<v Speaker 1>CEO at in Vita on the phone from San Francisco.

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<v Speaker 1>That's stock by the way up about here in