ORIGENE Genetic Wellness Screening

Your DNA does not change, so this is a test you take once. What changes over time is the interpretation, as the research base grows, which is why a report should be read as the current available reading rather than a permanent verdict.

Two profiles carry most of the report. Wellness at 49 and Sports and Fitness at 50 together account for 99 of the 249, so if neither interests you, you are paying RM1,900 for a good deal less than the headline suggests. Onco is the profile people buy this for, and it is the one to read carefully: it reports common-variant associations, it is not a hereditary cancer gene panel, and it includes sex-specific pairs, so a woman’s report lists both Prostate Cancer (Female) and Prostate Cancer (Male). The laboratory’s own recommendation against a raised male breast cancer entry is to have female relatives screened for BRCA1 and BRCA2, which is the clearest possible statement that this test is not that test.

This is the laboratory’s own list, published in full so you can check whether the thing you are curious about is actually on the panel before you pay. Every entry returns a band rather than a number: reduced, normal or increased risk, lower or higher tendency, and so on. The report names the gene and your genotype behind each finding, for example TPH2 or OXTR against stress sensitivity, so the result is traceable rather than a black box. Note that some entries appear in more than one profile under different framing, such as vitamin D in both Wellness and Sports and Fitness.

How It Works

1

Message us

Your town, and whether anything runs in your family.

2

We confirm the centre

Your closest of 35, its hours and an open slot.

3

One saliva sample

No fasting, no needle, a few minutes.

4

A doctor explains it

Report in 3 to 4 weeks, then the e-consultation to read it in context.

Collected at 35 partner centres nationwide and processed in Malaysia by an accredited specialty genomics laboratory, so the sample does not leave the country. Every report is read by a doctor registered with the Malaysian Medical Council before the e-consultation. Variant panels and the risk models applied to them differ between providers, so a report from this test is not interchangeable with one from another company.

Consumer genetic wellness reports rest largely on common variants and polygenic scores, and the open catalogue of those scores together with their evaluation framework is maintained as a public resource (Lambert SA, et al. Nat Genet. 2021;53(4):420 to 425. doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00783-5). Three limitations belong on the page rather than in the small print. Polygenic scores transfer poorly across ancestries, because most were derived in cohorts of European ancestry, and an international task force set out both the potential and the gaps in clinical use (Polygenic Risk Score Task Force of the International Common Disease Alliance. Nat Med. 2021;27(11):1876 to 1884. doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01549-6). For a Malaysian population that is a real constraint on how literally any absolute figure should be read. Second, direct-to-consumer genetic results require clinical confirmation before anyone acts on them: in one laboratory’s review of raw consumer data, a substantial share of variants reported to customers were not confirmed on clinical testing (Tandy-Connor S, et al. Genet Med. 2018;20(12):1515 to 1521. doi.org/10.1038/gim.2018.38). Third, a common-variant panel is not diagnostic and is a different instrument from the clinical sequencing used to find high-penetrance variants such as BRCA1 and BRCA2. The report itself makes that distinction: its recommendation against a raised male breast cancer entry is to have female relatives screened for BRCA1 and BRCA2 separately. That is why the Onco profile on this page carries an explicit warning rather than a reassurance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is genetic screening in Malaysia and what does ORIGENE report?

It is a saliva-based test reading common genetic variants and reporting 249 named traits and conditions across nine profiles: Derma at 21, Wellness at 49, Sports and Fitness at 50, Behavioural and Physical Traits at 37, Cardio and Metabolic at 21, Onco at 35, Neuro at 7, Allergy at 8 and Childhood-Onset Diseases at 21. Every entry is named on this page. A doctor e-consultation on the report is included in the RM1,900. It reports inherited tendency, not your current health state.

Does this test for BRCA and hereditary cancer risk?

No, and this is the most important thing to understand before booking. The Onco profile reports common-variant associations across 35 cancer entries, which is a different instrument from the clinical sequencing used to find high-penetrance variants such as BRCA1 and BRCA2. The report says so itself: where a male breast cancer entry comes back raised, its own recommendation is to have female relatives screened for BRCA1 and BRCA2 separately. If breast, ovarian, colorectal or prostate cancer runs in your family, what is indicated is clinical genetic testing with genetic counselling. Message us and we will point you at that rather than sell you this.

What does the report actually look like?

Long. It opens with a summary table listing only the findings that came back outside normal, each with a recommendation, so you are not made to read the whole thing. Behind that sits one page per entry, all 249 of them, each giving a description, the typical symptoms, your result band, the gene involved and your genotype. A full report runs to several hundred pages. The included e-consultation exists precisely because nobody should be left to interpret that alone.

How reliable are the results?

Reliable as a read of which common variants you carry, much weaker as an absolute probability. Results come back as bands, reduced, normal or increased, rather than as percentages, which is itself a signal about the precision available. Most polygenic scores were derived in cohorts of European ancestry and transfer poorly to other populations, so for a Malaysian customer the direction of a finding is more trustworthy than its magnitude. Consumer genetic results also require clinical confirmation before anyone acts on them, which is what the included e-consultation is there to arrange.

Why does my report list cancers of the opposite sex?

Because the Onco profile reports its full set of 35 entries regardless of sex, so a woman’s report includes Prostate Cancer (Male) and a man’s includes Ovarian Cancer (Female). It looks like an error and it is not. Those entries are there because a variant can be passed to children of either sex, and the report’s recommendations for them are written for relatives rather than for you. The doctor will tell you which entries apply to you at the e-consultation.

Do I need to fast or give blood?

Neither. One saliva sample is all that is needed, there is no needle and you can eat and drink normally, though the collection centre will ask you not to eat, drink or brush your teeth in the 30 minutes immediately before the sample. The sample is processed in Malaysia and does not leave the country.

How often should I repeat it?

Once. Your DNA does not change, so unlike a blood panel there is nothing to track. What does change is the science, so a report is the current reading of your variants rather than a permanent verdict, and it is worth revisiting the interpretation with a clinician if something relevant changes in your family history.

How long do results take, and where can I get it done?

Typically 3 to 4 weeks from the sample, which is longer than any blood panel in the range because the analysis is a different kind of process. Collection is at any of 35 centres across all 13 Malaysian states plus Kuala Lumpur and Labuan, including Petaling Jaya, Klang, Cheras, Johor Bahru, George Town, Ipoh, Kuantan, Seremban, Melaka, Kota Bharu, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, for the same RM1,900.

This is a wellness genetic screening reporting common-variant associations, it is not diagnostic, and a normal result does not rule out all disease. Screening is not a substitute for clinical assessment of an active symptom: if you are currently unwell, please see a doctor rather than waiting 3 to 4 weeks for a result. This test does not replace clinical genetic testing with genetic counselling, and it does not test BRCA1, BRCA2 or other high-penetrance cancer genes to clinical standard. It is not carrier screening, prenatal testing, a paternity test or an ancestry test, and it does not image an organ or biopsy anything. Results are reported as bands rather than probabilities, and a screening panel of this kind cannot indicate whether symptoms will appear, how severe they would be, or whether a condition would progress. Environmental and lifestyle factors also determine whether an inherited tendency ever becomes a condition. Polygenic and common-variant risk estimates were largely derived in cohorts of European ancestry and transfer imperfectly to other populations, so figures should be read as indicative rather than calibrated. Direct-to-consumer genetic findings require clinical confirmation before any clinical action is taken. A licensed doctor reviews every report and will advise whether further investigation is needed. Individual results vary and variant panels and risk models are not comparable between providers. Samples are processed by an accredited specialty laboratory in Malaysia. Please disclose all medication and supplements, existing medical conditions, your family medical history, pregnancy or possible pregnancy and recent illness before your appointment.