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Your Doctor Is Wasting Your Time... and Your MoneyBy Rob Fannon, editor Phase 1 InvestorFriday, June 5, 2009 I'd like nothing more than to fire my doctor...
Anyone else sick of scheduling appointments, only to wait for 30 minutes (or more) before hearing your name called? Then, if you're lucky, you get 10 minutes with a harried physician who shares nothing you didn't already know. When did doctors cease being healers? Most are nothing more than informed technicians, cranking through protocols and patient numbers to make ends meet.
I don't need a doc to check my blood pressure, take my temperature, rub my lymph nodes, and hand me an antibiotic... for whatever ails me.
I prefer the do-it-yourself model.
The secret to good health is information, discipline, and prevention – in that order. A discerning eye can gather more than enough qualified information on the web for any and all medical conditions. And of course, with enough self-discipline, diet and exercise are always the best prescription for most health-related matters. No two steps do more to prevent illness.
Still, all the web surfing, whole-grain bread, and wind sprints in the world can't trump one element of our health and wellbeing: our genes.
The next frontier for medicine is genetics. As patients, we can look forward to knowing which diseases are in our future based on a genetic fingerprint. Armed with a readout mapping our DNA and forecasting the medical conditions we'll likely encounter, we can fire the family doctor and head straight to the specialist who can actually cure us.
As investors, we've got to realize this day is coming faster than we may have thought...
Of course, not every genetics wonder-company is investable. Take my experience last summer, for example. For $1,000, I shipped my DNA to Iceland. There, scientists at deCODE Genetics (DCGN) scanned my genes to determine my risk of various cancers, heart-related disorders, brain diseases, as well as oddball tests for male pattern baldness and alcohol-flush reaction.
But the whole thing was a bit of a letdown. Most of the results were too vague. And based on my family history, I already know I have European ancestors, a thinning hairline, brown eyes, and a "slightly elevated" risk for many diseases. Obviously, I can't fire my doctor quite yet.
Without a sufficient payoff, expensive testing services like deCODE's won't attract meaningful numbers of customers. Patients – and the insurance companies that will foot the bill –need clear, definitive answers that have an immediate use in order to pay for such tests.
That is the key to making money in personalized medicine today. And that's what I look for when I make an investment in the "personalized medicine" boom...
One of my favorite companies in this sector – one I think has done it "right" – is Genomic Health (GHDX).
Genomic Health's Oncotype DX test measures the aggressiveness of breast cancer via a molecular snapshot of the tumor. Based on the results, patients and doctors make informed decisions about whether or not to pursue grueling and costly chemotherapy treatment.
Why You May Never Take a Regular Drug Again
Most important, Oncotype DX offers an appealing cost-benefit proposal for insurance companies. These payers are more than willing to shell out $3,700 for the test if it reduces the number of $35,000 chemotherapy treatments they pay for.
Clear, definitive answers that result in an immediate action plan... that's the winning formula for genetic-screening services. It's why deCODE is headed for bankruptcy and why I think Genomic Health is a bargain today...
Good investing,
Rob Fannon
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