3andMe has moved to a subscription-based pricing

Direct-to-consumer genetics testing firm 23andMe has moved to a subscription-based pricing plan that now includes a one year contract and an additional charge of $5 per month.

Along with the change in pricing, the company has done away with its separate Ancestry Edition and Health Edition products, which are now part of one service, called Complete Edition, that the firm offers. The base price for the testing service remains at $499.

The Ancestry and Health Edition products were launched a year ago by 23andMe.

The changes took effect on Nov. 22. After the initial year expires, the contract will go to a month-to-month model, and customers will be able to cancel their contract at any time, a spokeswoman for Mountain View, Calif.-based 23andMe said.

In an e-mail, she said the new monthly charge is based on the company's need to update its test and customers' test results as new genetic discoveries are made. The company's scientific team continually evaluates the latest scientific studies on genetic associations and on average incorporates two to five new genetic discoveries into 23andMe's service each month.

In a separate announcement today, 23andMe said that it has transitioned to the third version of its genotyping array, enabling it to test approximately one million SNPs. Customers who purchase the 23andMe Personal Genome Service today or after will have their DNA tested on the new version of the array, it said. The new chip nearly doubles the number of SNPs for which the firm previously tested.

Just 400 bucks to sequence your own genome and make a personal genetic profile

Well it so exiting to watch how man makes his future ... The future, always so clear..., had become like a black highway at night. We were in uncharted territory now, making up history as we went along. The future is not set, because we control what happens through the choices we make. The GATTACA era is not far off.

23andMe has dramatically slashed the price for its service and expanded its offerings to include a lineage tracing service through a partnership with Ancestry.com. In a statement today said that by cutting the price for its genotyping service from $999 to $399 it is “democratizing personal genetics and expanding the opportunity for more people to benefit from the genetic revolution.”

The company said advances made to Illumina’s genotyping technology, specifically the introduction of the HumanHap550-Quad+ BeadChip, made the price cut possible. Illumina is the provider of genotyping tools for 23andMe’s services. 23andMe also said that beyond the new ancestry service it has added improved custom content to the BeadChip to include more SNP variations and rare mutations. “By taking advantage of continuing innovation we are able to introduce a new chip that will give people more relevant data at a lower price,” 23andMe Co-founder Anne Wojcicki said in a statement.

In addition to technological advances, there has been speculation from industry observers that the crop of new DTC genomics service providers, such as 23andMe, Navigenics, and DeCode Genetics, may be facing price pressure from an ongoing research initiative undertaken by the Coriell Institute for Medical Research earlier this year. Coriell is trying to recruit 100,000 volunteers — 10,000 by the end of 2009 — to provide DNA through a saliva sample for a similar, but free, service as those being offered by the commercial firms. The Camden, NJ-based institute plans to use the information in a research study exploring the utility of using genomic information in clinical decision making.

The company said the ancestry analysis service it will provide through the Ancestry.com partnership “allows users to trace their genetic lineage and discover the role that their ancestral origins have played in human history.” Ancestry.com’s DNA database contains over 7 billion names in 26,000 databases, and it includes more than 7 million user-submitted family trees, which enables customers to “trace their roots and connect with distant cousins,” 23andMe said.

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