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DNA testing firm retracts accreditation claim

A private biotechnology company that made false statements of having accreditation for a yet-to-be-built genetic testing lab in Richmond, has retracted its claim. The Vancouver Sun reported last week that the company, co-owned by former B.C.
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A private biotechnology company that made false statements of having accreditation for a yet-to-be-built genetic testing lab in Richmond, has retracted its claim. August, 2015.

A private biotechnology company that made false statements of having accreditation for a yet-to-be-built genetic testing lab in Richmond, has retracted its claim.

The Vancouver Sun reported last week that the company, co-owned by former B.C. Children’s and Women’s Hospital research scientist Peter Li, is poised to launch Canada’s first and biggest direct-to-consumer (DTC) gene sequencing laboratory called GenomeMe.

When confronted about the misleading information on his company’s website regarding the hard-to-get College of American Pathologists (CAP) accreditation, Li admitted to a reporter it was a mistake that would be corrected.

Li would not respond to questions Monday, but the website for GenomeMe now states:

“GenomeMe Inc. is located in a state-of-the-art facility that is in process of certification by CAP (College of American Pathologists) to meet the highest standards for both the facility and technology, and staffed with world-class scientists with medical and human genomic science backgrounds.”

Before the change, the website said: “To offer the highest standard of testing, GenomeMe Inc. has a state of the art laboratory facility in Vancouver, B.C. that is fully accredited by CAP.”

It is believed the erroneous statement was on the company’s website for at least a month. For prices ranging from $50 to nearly $1,000, the company says it will be testing customers’ saliva samples to detect gene mutations that may increase risks for inherited or uninherited diseases, cancers they may be susceptible to, and medications they may metabolize too slow or too fast. 

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. insists that even if the company gets CAP accreditation, it will still have to meet provincial standards of medical laboratory quality through the college’s own Diagnostic Accreditation Program (DAP).

College spokesperson Susan Prins said GenomeMe would be considered a diagnostic facility, which — like all laboratories producing such test results — would require accreditation to ensure high-performance, high-quality services. That must occur before services are provided, she said, which suggests GenomeMe’s plans to open in just over four months is an unrealistic target. 

Construction on the lab space in a Richmond industrial park had, as of last week, not even begun yet as Li and other company officials sort out costs and design standards.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Laura Heinze said GenomeMe will also have to have a medical doctor registered with the college as their lab leader. “And of course they would not be able to charge for services to British Columbians that would normally be covered (by) the Medical Services Plan.”

Visit www.richmond-news.com for full story.