23andMe Is Selling All User Data to Drug Developer Regeneron

[ad_1] Genetic testing startup 23andMe, which filed for chapter earlier this yr, introduced on Monday that it has agreed to promote the genetic information of its 15 million customers, together with its core enterprise, to drug developer Regeneron Prescribed drugs. The acquisition, which adopted a chapter public sale, is valued at $256 million and is predicted to shut within the third quarter of this yr.

Regeneron informed 23andMe prospects that it might adhere to 23andMe's privateness coverage, which permits prospects to request to delete their private data.

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"We guarantee 23andMe prospects that we're dedicated to defending the 23andMe dataset," Aris Baras, head of the Regeneron Genetics Heart, stated in a press launch.

Baras defined that the Regeneron Genetics Heart has expertise with genetic information, processing the genetic data of practically three million individuals in analysis research because it was based in 2013. Regeneron "shares 23andMe's founding imaginative and prescient of the ability of genetics and information," Baras said.

Regeneron's acquisition consists of 23andMe's private genome service, which conducts DNA testing for genetic predispositions, ancestry, and traits based mostly on a small saliva pattern. Underneath the acquisition, 23andMe will proceed its each day operations as a private genomics service, however as a subsidiary of Regeneron, and proceed to supply genetic testing.

Anne Wojcicki. Photograph by Cindy Ord/VF24/Getty Photographs for Self-importance Honest

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The one a part of 23andMe's enterprise that the acquisition doesn't cowl is its telehealth division, Lemonaid Well being, which 23andMe plans to close down. Firm employees in divisions aside from Lemonaid Well being, numbering round 300 staff, will preserve their jobs.

The deal nonetheless needs to be authorized by the choose overseeing the chapter within the U.S. Chapter Courtroom for the Japanese District of Missouri.

23andMe filed for chapter in late March following a tumultuous few years. The corporate's status took successful after an information breach in 2023 uncovered the info of practically seven million individuals, or about half of the corporate's customers. 23andMe agreed to pay $30 million in September to settle a lawsuit in regards to the breach, however information privateness stays some extent of concern.

23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki, 51, resigned as 23andMe's CEO following information of the chapter however continued to serve on the corporate's board of administrators. Wojcicki, who co-founded 23andMe in 2006 and owns 49% of the corporate, stated that she had resigned from the CEO position with a view to be "in the most effective place" to bid for whole possession of the corporate.

Wojcicki submitted a couple of rejected proposals to purchase 23andMe, one in July 2024 and one other in February to buy all the firm's shares that she did not already personal in money for $2.53 per share, for an fairness worth of $74.7 million.

In September, all of 23andMe's unbiased administrators resigned from the board on account of strategic variations with Wojcicki. They've since been changed. The corporate laid off 40% of its workforce, or over 200 individuals, in November to chop prices.

23andMe went public in 2021 and was valued at round $6 billion that yr at its peak.

Associated: Silicon Valley Pioneer and Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Dies at 56 — Here is How She Remodeled the Tech Business Genetic testing startup 23andMe, which filed for chapter earlier this yr, introduced on Monday that it has agreed to promote the genetic information of its 15 million customers, together with its core enterprise, to drug developer Regeneron Prescribed drugs. The acquisition, which adopted a chapter public sale, is valued at $256 million and is predicted to shut within the third quarter of this yr.

Regeneron informed 23andMe prospects that it might adhere to 23andMe's privateness coverage, which permits prospects to request to delete their private data.