By Kevin Davies

April 9, 2008 | NEW YORK – With apologies to fans of Maury Povich and Connie Chung, former Vice President Al Gore’s surprise appearance was the undoubted highlight of the Tuesday evening reception that marked the official launch of Navigenics’ new personal genomics service.

Gore told the 150 assembled executives, scientists, investors, press and other guests celebrating the public release of Navigenics’ Health Compass that he had both personal and professional ties to the company. Last November, Gore became a partner with Kleiner Perkins, the venerable Bay Area venture capital firm that is the lead investor in the company.

He also called co-founder David Agus, director of the Spielberg Family Center for Proteomics in Los Angeles, “a long time friend,” and “a genius in oncology, and a miracle worker.”

“This is a great firm,” Gore said in his brief impromptu remarks (minus Powerpoint slides). “In my opinion, they’ve got the ethics and the culture and the values right,” Gore continued. “On all these new genetic breakthroughs, there is always some resistance culturally, and then, when there’s an evaluation of the inherent value, if the ethics are right, if the surrounding culture is right, then it just breaks through. I think this company [Navigenics] has the culture right… and I think it’s going to be a fantastic success.”

“The time is right,” said Mari Baker, Navigenics CEO, for “a change in healthcare in this country.” She said the cost of doing a genetic scan has finally reached the point that services can be offered to consumers. “Our team has gone through the literature, found enough conditions that meet our stringent criteria, to give people valuable data that they can use tomorrow to improve their health,” said Baker.

 Using Affymetrix microarrays and its CLIA-certified facilities, Navigenics scans customer DNA samples for gene alternations, or SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) that are known to be associated with common diseases. There are 1.8 million probes on the latest Affymetrix chip, although for now, Navigenics extracts information from just a few dozen of them. Among the first 18 conditions for which Navigenics provides personalized information are Alzheimer’s disease, obesity, and diabetes.

In contrast to other personal genomics services launched last year by 23andMe and Iceland’s DeCodeMe, Navigenics is not offering information about ancestry, genome comparison tools, nor does it offer information on so-called “non-actionable” conditions such as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Navigenics’ focus is squarely on using personal genetic data to calculate an individual’s projected lifetime risk for a particular condition. The company has genetic counselors on staff available for individual client consultations. Navigenics has also partnered with MedScape to begin the daunting challenge of educating physicians about the complexities and possibilities of personal genomics.

Agus joined fellow co-founder Dietrich Stephan, and board members John Doerr and Brook Byers in a panel discussion, the first in a two-week series of New York events to raise the company’s profile among various constituencies, especially the medical community. Aside from Gore’s unexpected appearance, the biggest surprise of the evening was perhaps a candid testimonial from Agus about the effectiveness of the Health Compass. He noted that one early beta tester was prompted to take an early colonoscopy based on her Health Compass results, which subsequently revealed a 1.5-inch polyp.

But Agus admitted that his own genetic scan has served as a wake-up call. Whereas the average lifetime risk for coronary heart disease in U.S. males is around 40 percent, Agus revealed that, “I had an 82 percent chance of getting a heart attack, and I had normal cholesterol. So based on that, I’m on Lipitor, I exercise … and I’m reducing my risk. But that 82 percent hit home.”

Navigenics offered its saliva kits for sale at the event – with one notable disclaimer. A notice next to the kits said that residents of New York State might have to wait for their results, pending approval from the state’s Department of Health, which is required to authorize genetic tests..

For further information on the Navigenics launch, visit: www.navigenics.com/dnanyc.