Cancer Docs Debate Gene Test Ad Campaign

Some physicians fear promoting the genetic test could lead to unnecessary worry.

ByABC News
September 11, 2007, 5:27 PM

Sept. 12, 2007— -- A recently launched advertising campaign for a genetic test to assess breast cancer risk has cancer experts debating the merits and pitfalls of promoting the expensive tests to the general public.

The test, called BRACAnalysis, is marketed by the company Myriad Genetic Laboratories Inc. and costs more than $3,000. It is designed to detect mutations in two different genes, called BRCA1 and BRCA2, which bestow a three- to sevenfold increased risk of breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Myriad contends that these tests may help women find these mutations early, helping them determine whether or not they possess a high risk of developing breast cancer.

Television commercials, airing in New York, Boston, Hartford, Conn., and Providence, R.I., feature young and middle-aged women talking about how the test helped them detect their cancer risk. The campaign also includes radio and magazine spots.

"The BRACAnalysis Awareness Campaign is designed to raise public awareness so that women with mutations with BRCA1 or BRCA2 can avail themselves to technologies that are potentially lifesaving," says Dr. Gregory Critchfield, the company's president.

Some doctors in the field agree that increasing public knowledge of the test is a step in the right direction.

"Anything that gets patients more aware of their family history and of the options available is a good thing," says Dr. Kevin Hughes, co-director of the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Genetics and Risk Assessment Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. "I see this campaign as one more approach to educating both primary doctors and patients."

Dr. Marisa Weiss, a breast radiation oncologist at Lankenau Hospital in Philadelphia and founder of the Web site breastcancer.org, agrees.

"There is no question genetic testing is being underutilized today," she says. "There are plenty of women out there who have not talked to their doctor about their family history. People need a nudge to begin a conversation with their doctor."