For $70,000 (£42,000), it may not seem like a very good deal: all you get is a polished silver box containing a USB drive on a black velvet tray.
It is the information that is on the drive, however, that counts.
In fact, the data is so valuable that the silver box has become the latest must-have accessory for some of the wealthiest individuals on the planet. So far, fewer than a hundred members of the global elite have managed to get their hands on one — including a handful of Britons, The Times has learnt — and the waiting list is growing by the month.
The USB drive contains a digital version of its owner’s human genome, sequenced and decoded and ready to be browsed on a home computer. It is hoped that such information could soon tell an individual what he or she is likely to die of — and, by extension, what can be done to put off the day of reckoning.
“As recently as 2007, there were only three personalised genomes on the planet,” says Jorge Conde, Chief Executive Officer of Knome, an American company offering the service. “Even last year there were more people who had walked on the Moon than had been sequenced.”
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The cost of the procedure is dropping fast, and while $70,000 is a significant expense by even a Wall Street banker’s standards, it seems inconsequential when compared with the $3 billion cost of decoding the very first genome — a project that was completed in 2003, after 13 years. Today the same process takes six to eight weeks. By 2015, says Mr Conde, personalised sequencing is likely to cost under $1,000, and take only days.
For the moment, however, having your own sequenced genome remains the ultimate billionaire’s bragging right — and Knome is happy to indulge in James Bond-style theatrics. The company will dispatch a private doctor to virtually any address in the world to collect the necessary blood sample, while delivery of the silver USB drive is an event in itself. “I’ve been in the homes of a few of my clients, and a lot of them put their USB drives in display cases,” says Mr Conde, 32, who is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Others keep them locked up in safes along with their jewellery.”
The services of Knome and its main rival, Illumina, based in San Diego, are not to be confused with cheaper DNA analysis firms such as 23andMe, founded by Anne Wojcicki, wife of the Google co-founder Sergey Brin. It uses a saliva-based sample to provide a snapshot of a person’s DNA, rather than a fully sequenced genome. Nevertheless, Ms Wojcicki recently credited 23andMe with discovering her husband’s high risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.
Many scientists are not as convinced of the argument for expensive personalised genome sequencing — until, that is, a much larger database of genomes is established, and research methods improve. Even Mr Conde admits that the best Knome can offer clients is a guide to the various “unique variances” within their DNA, which could indicate how likely they are to develop certain conditions.
However, Knome says its service is designed to be future-proof. By hooking up a Knome USB drive to a KnomeXplorer computer browser, clients can upload new gene/disease associations as they are discovered. “It’s kind of like iTunes,” says Mr Conde.
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Although none of Knome’s clients was willing to talk publicly about the decision to be sequenced — given the Wall Street background of some of the individuals, there are concerns about appearing profligate — the first person to have his genome sequenced by the company is known to be Dan Stoicescu, a Romanian millionaire who lives in Switzerland. He has described himself as a “transhumanist” who believes that life can be extended indefinitely through nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. When asked why he felt compelled to spend $350,000 — the going rate at the time — he said: “I’d rather spend my money on my genome than a Bentley.”