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Affordable Means Reasonable and Accessible Genetic Testing

By December 11, 2023No Comments

If you look up the word affordable in a thesaurus, two synonyms you’ll find are “reasonable” and “accessible”.  All three of these words capture the same concept in slightly different ways and have guided GenSol’s mission for affordable pet genetic testing since the beginning.

When we first joined the genetic testing industry the price for a single pet DNA test could range from around $100-200. We looked at that historical pricing and in our opinion, it was not reasonable and definitely not accessible. As a Molecular Biologist, I had spent years working on DNA and I knew from experience that testing a single mutation didn’t cost that much to perform in a laboratory. I also knew as a dog enthusiast that paying those prices to test a single dog was just too much and was definitely impractical for testing a whole litter of puppies. We knew that what the industry was unknowingly doing was making genetic testing less accessible to breeders, veterinarians, and pet parents based on the prices being charged. We also knew that these unreasonable prices could only lead to reduced and inaccessible testing that prevented good breeding and healthcare decisions.

We began offering genetic testing that introduced a single test for $40 every day that went on to change the industry and how companies that do this work think about the price they charge. We wanted to make sure that the price for the service we were offering was as reasonable as possible to not deter customers from testing their breeding dogs, litters, and beloved pets. As soon as we launched, we were immediately contacted by breeders and pet parents who let us know how important it was that they could now afford the tool they had so badly needed to make informed decisions about the dogs they were breeding.

Not too long after we joined the industry, newer companies started selling a different type of pet DNA testing that offered hundreds of tests for a fixed price of anywhere from $100 – $200. For example, you could purchase 150 tests for $150 which means you pay only $1 per test. When they first launched this type of testing, it sounded like a great deal. It didn’t take long for people to realize that this type of testing is not necessarily as reasonable as it sounds. If you take the price and divide it by the actual number of test results you really need, this type of testing doesn’t quite provide the savings you think. For example, if you pay $150 for 150 tests and you only really need 3 test results, you are actually paying $50 per test for your results and not $1 per test. At the end of the day, it’s about getting the results you need to make breeding and healthcare decisions at a reasonable and accessible price.

At GenSol, we are constantly innovating and improving our genetic testing process. We have recently introduced breed-specific fully customizable panels starting at $29.90 per test which we believe provides the most affordable and flexible testing in the industry. Each additional test added to a panel continues to lower the price per test. We offer our best pricing every day so that customers don’t have to wait for a sale to get the testing they need now. We have also added additional promotions to reduce the cost even further. We started in the industry with affordability being one of our driving principles because we believe testing should be accessible and you should only pay for the information you need. To us, this seems reasonable.