The Livelong Newsletter: Feature Edition

Hello Livelongers,

Welcome to the first feature edition of the Livelong newsletter, where we will break down an important topic in health and longevity in order to get a deep and well-rounded understanding of it.

For this feature edition, we were joined by Dahlia Attia-King, the Founder of Panacea, a direct-to-consumer genetic company who is making testing more accessible to the public.

Genetic testing is a technology that is making waves in the longevity space because it lets people learn their genetic risk for certain diseases.

In fact, this tool helped Dahlia discover that her risk of ovarian cancer is 9x greater than that of most people (despite having no family history of the disease).

This technology could be life-saving for so many people because, when you understand the risk, you can modify your lifestyle and health goals to reduce the risk.

You do not want to miss this discussion. We talk about:

• Genetic testing and disease prevention

• Pitfalls and barriers to care

• The similarities between reading a book and reading your biology

• Having agency over your health

• and so much more…

We love to hear from our community. Please share your feedback, stories, questions, testimonials, ideas, and more with us at [email protected].

Erin (Livelong): For context, can you explain genetic testing (sequencing)? 

Dahlia: This is actually a really good place to start. Genes are the biological instruction holders in our bodies. They [are] specific units of information, and each gene instructs the body to do something very specific. What we're learning—and what we're continuing to learn—is that a lot of our health and disease susceptibility can be guided by the instructions held in our genes. 

Genetic sequencing can take a sample of our tissue (whether it's a blood sample or saliva sample) and extract/review your genes. This is so useful because, if you know what your particular genes are instructing your body to do, you can use that information to get ahead of any risks that you might be carrying in your genes—really, you can get ahead of the problem before it even becomes a problem. 

Erin (Livelong): I’d have to imagine it is stressful to discover a genetic risk for a certain disease and confusing to know what to do with this information. 

Dahlia: This is a very common concern so I'm glad you're asking it. The bottom line is ‘your genes are not your destiny.’ The entire purpose of getting a genetic test is to show you where you can reduce your risk, right? This information, in a lot of cases, is actionable [and] means that there are medically available actions (i.e., screenings) to help reduce your risk. The goal is to empower you and put you in a much better place with this knowledge than without it. And in a lot of cases, people receive this test and they have absolutely no mutations that are identified in their genes that put them at higher risk. That is peace of mind that cannot be bought.

Erin (Livelong): Affordability is a huge issue associated with genetic testing. I would love it if you could speak on what your company, Panacea, is doing to overcome this barrier?

Dahlia: One of the reasons we started Panacea is because we saw how life-changing this testing could be, yet it was incredibly inaccessible, partially because it's exorbitantly expensive, [and] insurance companies are not doing a great job of widely covering [it]. On average, whole exome sequencing [WES] at a CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments)-certified laboratory in the United States is about $10,000.

We cut out the big barriers…the insurance companies. We go directly to the clinical laboratory that provides genetic testing and create really cost-effective agreements with them. We also negotiate contracts directly with genetic counselors [and] partner with physicians who understand the value of these tests and order them. When we do that, it is astonishing how much that drives down the price ($1,000 or less with discount). We still hope to chisel down that price as our volumes expand [and] partnership grow.

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Erin (Livelong): Can you explain the significance of using Whole Exome Sequencing (WES), a type of genetic testing?

Dahlia: WES is similar to whole genome sequencing. Whole genome sequencing is like reading a book from the very first letter on the cover to the very last letter on the back of a cover—literally, every single tiny letter that exists in this book from cover to cover.  

WES could be compared to reading the first letter in the first word of chapter 1, until the last letter of the last word in the final chapter of a book—the meat and potatoes of the book. You're not reading the Table of Contents, Acknowledgement, etc…it’s not that important. 

[While both] are clinical testing methods that use next-generation sequencing, WES is a lot more cost-effective because it only looks at the (meat and potato) areas of the genome that are coding for instructions, your genes (packets of information that essentially you're telling your body to do something).

Erin (Livelong): How often would you need to take the test?

Dahlia: This is a once-in-a-lifetime necessary technology that delivers value for the rest of your life. Remember, we are sequencing every single gene that you inherited from mom and dad, so that [genetic] risk was there from the very beginning of your life, and it will likely be there until the very end. 

The good news is you can continue to use this information throughout your life. There's always going to be more research, studies, and information that comes out, so even if you get the test today, you can continue to get updated information as our scientific knowledge grows.

Erin (Livelong): In the world of WES and genetic testing, what’s next? Where do you foresee the future of this industry, and even your company?

Dahlia: I think something that we're very interested in is the other things that can be done, in addition to genetic testing, that are truly going to give people the long healthspan that they're seeking—it is not just about lifespan anymore. The bottom line is genetic testing is an extremely powerful tool that we should be utilizing in order to to really give us that best opportunity at that long healthspan. 

Visit seekpanacea.com to learn more AND use promo code LIVELONG50 to get 50% off your order of a clinical-grade genetic test!

Longevity Media LLC

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We can’t wait to cover more trending topics in longevity in our next newsletter. Stay tuned, Livelongers.

-Erin Hunter, Chief Editor, Livelong

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