myDNA test challenged
February 18, 2016
Chemmart’s myDNA testing
program is under scrutiny from
the academic website The
Conversation.
Following the implementation
of the Chemmart’s myDNA
genetic testing program claimed
to help identify medications and
dosing tailored to the individual
(PD 03 Feb), The Conversation
has criticised the plan saying it
is not evidence-based and has
submitted its concerns to the
Therapeutic Goods Advertising
Complaint Resolution Panel for an
independent determination.
Authors of the challenge are
Ken Harvey, industry watchdog
and presently Adjunct Associate
Professor, School of Public Health
and Preventive Medicine, Monash
University along with Basia Diug,
Senior Lecturer & Deputy- Head of
the Medical Education Research
Quality Unit, in the same school.
They argue that “some of
Chemmart’s claims may be
misleading for consumers who
lack detailed knowledge of DNA
testing and may produce unrealistic
expectations of the product’s
effectiveness.
“In so doing, Chemmart appears
to have breached a number of
provisions of the Therapeutic
Goods Advertising Code 2015.”
The test requires a trained
pharmacist to take a cheek swab
which is sent to a team of expert
doctors, pharmacists and scientists
at Australian Clinical Labs and then
reported back to the pharmacist
and the patient’s nominated GP for
further private consultation.
Harvey and Diug said that the
Chemmart promotion is potentially
misleading because they do not
believe the test is “particularly
relevant” to those who “take
multiple medications, have children
on prescribed medication”, or “are
pregnant or planning pregnancy”
because of the extremely limited
applicability of the test to these
patient groups.”
They also argue that the claim
that “the myDNA test covers 50%
of the most commonly prescribed
medications” is not consistent with
the data.
They quote US data, which
states that up to 18% of scripts are
affected, as well as Australian data
on the top ten prescribed drugs.
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