Hi Everyone,

Anybody else send samples into Ingen recently? tomorrow will be 6 weeks since they received my sample, so I should have had results 2 weeks ago... and of course, does the company answer emails? Apparently not. Guess I'll have to try calling them sometime next week.

I was just curious if anyone had gotten results back within a reasonable time frame recently!

No, haven't heard anything. No emails back! They received my swabs in Feb.. Nothing yet, but they are near my assigned #'s. So, maybe within the next couple of weeks???

I believe people are still waiting for results from last August - it's amazing that anyone is still buying their tests, but as far as anyone can tell, then are taking the money and not providing results...

Updated News Release to our U.S. customers 2/12/10:
OptiGen is reporting news regarding its legal claims against InGen, Rick Dobbins and other defendants whenever definitive progress has been made. The following statement was approved jointly by OptiGen and Texas A&M. OptiGen is committed to protecting its intellectual property and will report other significant developments as they happen.

Further details on this case have been summarized at http://ip.law360.com/articles/148596

JOINT STATEMENT

OptiGen, LLC (“OptiGen”) and Texas A&M University (“Texas A&M”) have resolved OptiGen’s patent infringement claims against Texas A&M related to its testing of canine DNA for certain genetic disorders.



In January and April 2009, OptiGen filed lawsuits arising out of the infringement of a number of patents to which OptiGen holds exclusive licenses. The consolidated actions charged Texas A&M, among others, with infringement of patents related to the testing of Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration (PRCD), CLAD (Canine Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency), CSNB/prad (Congenital Stationary Night Blindness or Retinal Dystrophy), and FN (Autosomal Recessive Nephropathy). Texas A&M did DNA testing for these disorders at the request of Richard Dobbins, the CEO of PinPoint DNA Technologies, Inc. and the General Manager of International Genetics, Inc. (also known as InGen). Mr. Dobbins, PinPoint and InGen are defendants in OptiGen’s ongoing patent infringement lawsuits.

The testing of these genetic disorders are covered by the following patents to which OptiGen holds exclusive licenses: U.S. Patent Nos. 5,804,388; 7,312,037; 7,285,388; 6,210,897; 6,201,114; and 6,428,958.

Texas A&M has agreed to a settlement with OptiGen. Texas A&M has ceased any and all testing related to these patents and has agreed not to resume any such testing in the future. Texas A&M regrets that its testing has caused confusion among the community of dog owners and breeders.

They promised me results from a test in AUGUST... no word and I stopped holding my breath. Sorry Nat you fell for their scam too. I would go to DDC, results in 10 days!

Does this mean that any PRCD test swabs sent to InGen simply will not be tested? What about the other tests, I wonder.

I already am testing elsewhere. I gave up on InGen. If I get results,fine. If I don't-oh well...Lesson learned;it's not what you pay but what you get.

What is DDC?
Adam

Great, so now I'm starting to hear stuff questioning the validity of test results... so maybe if I ever even get results back, I'll have to retest anyway. Boo.

http://www.vetdnacenter.com

This is the veterinary division of DNA Diagnostic Center (DDC). They offer all sorts of animal DNA tests at a reasonable price with fast, friendly service.

Why on earth do you people keep messing with this company?? I just don't get it! Cheap is never better as this company has more than proven numerous times. Even at their onset, I didn't trust them. My gut instinct was right on.

Its the same test folks. If some had a Mercedes for sale for $20,000 and someone had the same car for $5000, you might take a chance with the $5000 deal even if you have to wait an extra month or two. If Optigen was more reasonable in price, we wouldnt look for different sources for the SAME test. Optigen needs to lower their price. There is no excuse for Optigen charging what they do for this test.

it may be the same test, but there is more to it than that. Good labratory practices are equally important. Other labs don't experience the contamination issues that have plagued ingen. Contamination issues regarding DNA have severe consequences. Think about it. So, unfortunately, a test is a test is a test does not hold water. And I think there is plenty of testimony on this forum alone to attest to that.

Bingo... no way would I trust a test from these people. I, too didn't trust them from the git go. Gut instinct as well.

There are several breeders that are still waiting for results since last year. The bigger problem now is whether any of Ingens results can be trusted as being accurate, there have been many examples of results being incorrectly reported.

For PRA, optigen holds the patents.

Anyone needing testing for EIC, CNM, or coat color would be wise to consider another option. We have always used DDC for all of our DNA and they have been great to work with... http://www.vetdnacenter.com/

We dont know that Optigen hasnt run into contamination problems also. It seems to happen at the lab, and probally the same lab that runs Optigen's tests. Ingen has never had a problem with accuracy. It seems like a witch hunt for someone trying to give us better pricing on what seems to be identical tests.

Well, obviously I haven't been checking the forum regularly, LOL... I'm grateful when I have time for a little sleep these days. Anyway, thanks for all the oppinions guys... the last I heard about the lab (really, a year ago, probably before the whole optigen lawsuit thing) was that it was slow, yes, but not the inaccuracy issues.

Anyway, lesson learned!!

I'll just re-test with the right companies. I want to breed away from the genetic deceases, not just clear dogs.

I was happy with INGEN, their testing and their prices until this happened.

Had Rick & staff been a gentleman, was honest from the beginning, I might have waited around for him to iron out his problems.

As he wasn't, I'm kicking him and INGEN to the curb forever no matter what happens. If I have to use DDC, I will although I'm not a fan of theirs going by chocolate and other color gene errors including one that happened to me. Both stud-dog and bitch were tested. Bitch tested Cc, stud-dog tested Yy. We had a litter of all 3 colors. Whoops. It was a beautiful litter and 2 of the 10 pups finished their championships by age 2. We now know what they carry and breed accordingly.

I thought everyone knew about INGEN, especially vets or people in doggy medicine knew about these problems with INGEN. Any breeder I spoke to knew not to spend any more money with them. Their February page was honest, about gosh darn time.

I'm sorry you got caught up in their lies Dr. Maticka. Write off the money you lost and move on. You'll never get your tests done and if you did, how can you trust them?

I would read this list once a week to see what is going on in the breed world Dr. Maticka. Ignore the jerks that are sarcastic and read the good information that most post. It keeps us up to snuff on what is going on in the Labby world. That's what I do anyway.

No errors with OptiGen? BS!! They gouge us and they make mistakes. MANY dogs were lost to breeding programs because of their crap! They would NEVER tell you if they had a contamination issue. If you want to blindly follow them, go for it. Sadly, InGen is now a thing of the past. Now I am left with either sending my money to the OptiGen thieves, or trying DDC

DDC does not offer the PRA, RD/OSD or NARC tests. I'm afraid you will have to deal with Optigen for these as they are patented or licensed.

Optigen always said their first tests were MARKER tests and thus were not 100% accurate. If people culled dogs from their breeding program based the on first tests, that was their decision. My first dogs came back as carriers and/or affected from the first test and I did not dump them. I bred accordingly. As the test was improved, Optigen sent new results at now cost to me. The carriers eventually came back as clear and the affected were upgraded to carriers.

Believe it or not, very few veterinarians know anything about genetic testing available for dogs... its relatively proportional to the number of vets that do good quality repro work.

I have to say that I am awful about checking the forum! And this time of year (calving/foaling/rebreeding + all the dog repro stuff) has me quite busy, so even less time for this sort of thing.

Anyway, I can't thank you all enough for the info. I agree, I am also frustrated with Optigen and was hoping that Ingen would offer a decent alternative, but I guess sending off to Optigen is all I can do for now!

This may be a dumb question, but if you submitted a test, have you checked the Ingen Customer Portal?

Folks, I just noticed that I have some results back from Ingen. I submitted them 2 mo. ago and they are starting to appear..there is hope.

Maybe I'm not the only one who forgot to check. When I went to the customer portal, there were my results.

That would seem to be good news, unfortunately, there results have been coming back wrong and can not be trusted.

that is not true, you're just bitter.

It is true.... and I would be bitter too if I just spent a lot of money on DNA to find out the results are incorrect. The issues are no longer just getting the results or getting a refund (they don't do refunds) but rather whether or not the result can be trusted from Ingen.

"they don't do refunds"

They did do refunds at one time, I was given a refund for 2 tests from August that we never heard anything on (this past December). Did you ask for a refund?

Put your money where your mouth is. Until I see proof that someone has, on paper, received results that do not match Optigen results, I refuse to believe that Ingen results are incorrect.
While I am upset about their lack of good service too, I do not buy this theory of bad testing, when results are received.

The tests are just as accurate as Optigen Im sure. Please dont make things up.

It is up to each his/her own what you do with the test results, and the level of confidence you have with them. I know of 2 different breeders, who tested last year, one they contacted Ingen and told them what happened. This I believe occurred when they first figured out something was wrong at thier lab. The other, tested with a different company, after finding out the same info, and one of her tests did come back WRONG!! Also, I personally have never used them, and never will. This is it for me, in good conscoius you were warned, believe what you will.

Thank you!!

I heard from a bitch owner wanting to breed to one of my studs that "a friend" of hers had Ingen give her a bad result.

I really wanted to call her on it but instead just passed it over...not big enought to argue over, but I have not seen or heard FIRSTHAND of one single person whose results were different.

This all comes down to legal crap. Optigen intended to put a competitor who was offering the exact same product out of business and they did, so now we are all over a barrel. We HAVE to use optigen or not test our dogs. Total monopoly and very wrong. You can't tell me that Optigen hasn't recovered their expense for developing the test.

I never believed the "contamination" story for a minute. I think they were shut down by the lawsuits and were hoping the judgment would come back in their favor. I believed then and still believe now that it was a stalling technique. I work in the legal field and lawyers are constantly advising their clients to stall in this way or that way until things are resolved legally.

JMHO