On 5 December, a U.S. company called Orchid Health announced that it would begin to offer fertility clinics and their hopeful customers the unprecedented option to sequence the whole genomes of embryos conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF). “Find the embryo at lowest risk for a disease that runs in your family,” touts the company’s website. The cost: $2500 per embryo.
Although Orchid and at least two other companies have already been conducting more limited genetic screening of IVF embryos, the new test offers something more: Orchid will look not just for single-gene mutations that cause disorders such as cystic fibrosis, but also more extensively for medleys of common and rare gene variants known to predispose people to neurodevelopmental disorders, severe obesity, and certain psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia.
That new offering drew swift backlash from genomics researchers who claim the company inappropriately uses their data to generate some of its risk estimates. The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC), an international group of more than 800 researchers working to decode the genetic and molecular underpinnings of mental health conditions, says Orchid’s new test relies on data it produced over the past decade, and that the company has violated restrictions against the data’s use for embryo screening.
Genetics group slams company for using its data to screen embryos’ genomes: Orchid Health’s new in vitro fertilization embryo test aims to predict future health and mental issues | Science | AAAS https://t.co/RukcF29qiJ
— Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics (@bermaninstitute) December 18, 2023