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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals on Monday announced it is buying 23andMe out of bankruptcy for $256 million – taking with it the company’s extensive trove of genetic samples and data. It will acquire 23andMe’s Personal Genome Service, Total Health and Research Services and its large biobank, including genetic data of more than 15 million customers – raising privacy concerns from individuals who had willingly handed over the samples to completely different owners. All of 23andMe’s genetic testing services will continue uninterrupted, and the deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 pending bankruptcy court and regulatory approvals, Regeneron said....

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has announced a plan to acquire the bankrupt genetic testing company 23andMe for $256 million, raising privacy concerns as the pharmaceutical giant will gain access to the genetic data of over 15 million customers. The New York Post reports that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has seized the opportunity to acquire the once-thriving genetic testing company 23andMe, which recently filed for bankruptcy. The $256 million deal will grant Regeneron access to 23andMe’s extensive collection of genetic samples and data, encompassing the personal information of more than 15 million customers. This acquisition has raised significant concerns among privacy advocates and customers who...

With genetic testing company 23andMe filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and courting bidders, the DNA data of millions of users is up for sale.A Silicon Valley stalwart since 2006, 23andMe has steadily amassed a database of people’s fundamental genetic information under the promise of helping them understand their disposition to diseases and potentially connecting with relatives.But the company’s bankruptcy filing Sunday means information is set to be sold, causing massive worry among privacy experts and advocates.“Folks have absolutely no say in where their data is going to go,” said Tazin Khan, CEO of the nonprofit Cyber Collective, which advocates...

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is warning about a risk to their data from a company that recently reported it was in financial distress. According to the Attorney General’s office, 23andMe said in security filings that there is “substantial doubt” about the genetic testing-focused company’s future. Bonta advised California residents of their right under the Genetic Information Privacy Act and California Consumer Protection Act to request their data held by companies be deleted and genetic materials be destroyed. “California has robust privacy laws that allow consumers to take control and request that a company delete their genetic data,” Bonta said....

alifornia Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a consumer alert to customers of 23andMe, a genetic testing and information company. The California-based company has publicly reported that it is in financial distress and stated in securities filings that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. Due to the trove of sensitive consumer data 23andMe has amassed, Attorney General Bonta reminds Californians of their right to direct the deletion of their genetic data under the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) and California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA). Californians who want to invoke these rights can do...

California’s attorney general has urgently warned customers of 23andMe to purge their genetic data from the company’s databases over uncertainty where it may end up if the firm goes bankrupt. “Given 23andMe’s reported financial distress, I remind Californians to consider invoking their rights and directing 23andMe to delete their data and destroy any samples of genetic material held by the company,” AG Rob Bonta said in a statement Friday. The company had been synonymous with at-home genetic testing for more than a decade, providing more than 15 million customers with a wide range of personal health and ancestry data. Users...

The genetic ancestry testing company 23andMe recently announced that it is filing for bankruptcy, which could result in the company being sold. Over the last 20 years, 15 million people have submitted their DNA to the company for testing, but now the company has fallen on hard times, potentially putting your saliva sample with highly sensitive information about your health and genealogy at risk. The company has lost nearly $6 billion, according to cyber security expert Arun Vishwanath. And because it’s not a health care company, DNA data is not protected by health privacy laws. 23andMe says it has “strong...

Shares of 23andMe are now worth pennies. The company’s valuation has plummeted 99% from its $6 billion peak shortly after the company went public in 2021. ... What is the company’s plan for all the data it has collected since it was founded in 2006? ... When signing up for the service, about 80% of 23andMe’s customers have opted in to having their genetic data analyzed for medical research. The company has an agreement with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, that allows the drugmaker to tap the tech company’s customer data to develop new treatments for disease. ...HIPAA, does not...

Cybercriminals who have hacked into an ancestry website could use the data to target hundreds of thousands of Britons. The DNA profiling firm 23andMe has warned that a hacker named 'Golem' leaked the genetic profiles of 4million of its users, including data linked to the British Royal Family and dynasties such as the Rothschilds and Rockefellers. Chillingly the hacker has said that the massive release is to target 'families serving Zionism', sparking fears it could be used to target users based on their ethnicity, especially the Jewish community.

A member of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee warned that bio-weapons are being made that use a target's DNA to only kill that person. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on Friday, US Rep Jason Crow of Colorado warned Americans to not be so cavalier about sharing their DNA with private companies due to the coming of the new type of weapon Earlier this week the Washington Examiner reported on just how easy it could be for privately-owned databases to be used to develop bioweapons such as the ones touted by Crow. The publication explained how DNA belonging to a...

Sales for some at-home DNA testing kits are on the decline amid consumer privacy concerns. 23andMe, the home DNA-testing company, is laying off about 100 people, nearly 14 percent of its staff, the company confirmed to FOX Business Friday. The company cut staffers in its operations department in charge of growing and scaling the company as fewer people pay for genetic test results which can reveal things about their heritage or how prone they are to health conditions like type 2 diabetes or celiac disease, according to a CNBC report. The declining sales came as a surprise for CEO Anne...

Worried about your privacy after taking an at-home DNA test? Here's what you should know and what you can do. If you’ve sent a DNA sample such as a tube of spit to 23andMe, Ancestry, MyHeritage, or one of the many other companies that offer direct-to-consumer genetic testing, you’ve sent them the essential information they need to provide you with their analysis of your genetic code. [SNIP] But if you later decide that you want to remove your genetic information from the web for privacy reasons, can you? And should you? Genetic data can reveal information about your health, your...

23andMe will soon be doing a lot more with your DNA than providing a family tree. The home genetics company has teamed up with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) with hopes of designing new drugs that could treat diseases like Parkinson’s, among others. Given 23andMe’s substantial genetic database provided by its 5 million customers, the company hopes that a partnership with GSK could provide the necessary data to develop effective therapies.“Since the inception of 23andMe, our mission has been to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome,” Anne Wojcicki, the company’s CEO and co-founder, said in a statement....

The FDA approved the genetic testing company's marketing of a test that reports on 3 of more than 1,000 BRCA breast cancer mutations -- and warns results may not be reliable.The Food and Drug Administration has approved 23andMe's home test to detect three breast cancer mutations most common in people of Eastern European Jewish descent. The decision by the FDA, announced Tuesday, allows the genetics testing company to include these results as part of its $199 Health and Ancestry product. DNA from saliva samples is used to inform customers about their families' countries of origin, along with information on genetic...

When companies like Ancestry.com and 23andMe first invited people to send in their DNA for genealogy tracing and medical diagnostic tests, privacy advocates warned about the creation of giant genetic databases that might one day be used against participants by law enforcement. DNA, after all, can be a key to solving crimes. It “has serious information about you and your family,” genetic privacy advocate Jeremy Gruber told me back in 2010 when such services were just getting popular. Now, five years later, when 23andMe and Ancestry both have over a million customers, those warnings are looking prescient. “Your relative’s DNA...

Key Points * All seven independent directors resigned from 23andMe’s board Tuesday, effective immediately. * The directors had formed a special committee in March tasked with helping the struggling company find a new path forward. * In a memo to employees, CEO Anne Wojcicki said she was “surprised and disappointed by the decision.” =================================================================== All seven independent directors of 23andMe resigned from the company’s board Tuesday, a move that CEO Anne Wojcicki said left her “surprised and disappointed,” according to a memo to employees. Wojcicki, who co-founded 23andMe in 2006, said she remains committed to taking the company private. The...

The pioneering DNA testing firm 23andMe is in turmoil. Seven independent members of the company’s eight-person board resigned Tuesday, concluding that despite co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki’s expressed intention to take the company private, “no such proposal is forthcoming.” They also cited a difference on the “strategic direction” of the company. 23andMe’s revenue has shriveled over the past year and its share price has sunk to about 30 cents, jeopardizing its ability to remain listed on the Nasdaq index. … 23andMe has amassed a vast trove of DNA from its popular test kits and pioneered using genetic information to determine...

When a trusting customer purchases a kit from 23andMe, spits in their tube, and mails it back, they effortlessly provide 23andMe with genetic data on dozens and dozens of their traits. If the intended goal is to discover a family ancestry line, or if they are a candidate for ailments like breast or prostate cancer and other disease-causing variants, then 23andMe may seem like a valuable tool. However, by consenting to let 23andMe run tests, customers agree to user terms set by the company. (snip) As the partnership between 23andMe and GSK came to life, besides publicly disclosed deals with...

The consumer genome sequencing company 23andMe is a sinking ship – and its CEO is conducting the orchestra. As Wired reports, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki was chipper on a February 7 earnings call despite the company's abysmal revenue report that led to its stock being devalued to below 75 cents per share, down a whopping 93 percent from the $16.04 when it first went public. "We are an unusual company," Wojcicki said, per Wired, during the investor call. That response very much undersells the circumstances that may lead to 23andMe spinning off its consumer DNA testing and therapeutics wings into...

In autumn 2023, a hacker called Golem posted on a well-known message board for cybercriminals, announcing a trove of data stolen from 23andMe, one of the biggest names in at-home DNA testing. Golem boasted about having access to the accounts of people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage who had sent their DNA to 23andMe, and offered to sell it to whoever was prepared to pay. "tailored ethnic groupings, individualized data sets, pinpointed origin estimations, haplogroup details, phenotype information, photographs, links to hundreds of potential relatives, and, most crucially, raw data profiles". The purported ability of Jews to blend in – to...