A Genetic Testing Company Is Reviewing 50,000 Saliva Samples after Messing Up Their Results

September 18, 2017

(Quartz) – Doctors are starting to use genetic testing for preventive care, but they’re still nowhere near perfect and they’re not particularly well monitored. In one recent and very striking example, the San Francisco-based company Invitae announced last month it would be re-testing 50,000 saliva samples after discovering that it had accidentally given one patient a false negative in a test for Lynch syndrome. This inherited condition is caused by one of five genetic mutations, and is tied to a significantly higher risk of developing colon cancer.