23Andme, the company whose auto-test kits sent by post have become synonymous with DNA tests, file for bankruptcy. Anne Wojcicki, who co -founded 23and in 2006, withdrew as CEOs while the company tries to find a buyer in the midst of slowdown four years after being made public.
In January, 23andm said that he explored sales options in the middle of the slowdown in demand for his product and benefits from a major data violation in 2023. In 2024, the company agreed with a financial settlement for violation, which affected 6.9 million users. The company also announced layoffs of around 40% of its workforce at the end of 2024. Recently, a stock of 23 and fell below a dollar, presenting it in danger of being struck off from the Nasdaq.
At its peak, 23andme has become the best known name in the emerging zone of DNA auto-test, users paying more than $ 99 for the kits that gave them an overview of their genetic makeup, their potential parents and their ancestors. But the momentum of the company has slowed down in recent years after its $ 3.5 billion public offer in 2021.
What should you do with your 23andme account?
People who have used 23 and concern about what could happen to their data in a sale has options. You can download your information, then delete your account, as well as ask the company to reject your DNA equipment in addition to deleting the data.
This will prevent your DNA information from being used in future research, but it cannot be deleted from the research that has already been carried out.
In a note to customers, the company said that nothing is currently changing the way it stores, manages or protects customer data and that it is always open to business and the sale of DNA kits.
“Thanks to this process, we will seek to find a partner that shares our commitment to the confidentiality of customer data and allows our mission to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome to live,” said company in its position.
Learn more about what could happen to your 23andme data.
‘Take out your data’
Arthur Caplan, chief of the Nyu’s Grosman School of Medicine medical ethics division, critic 23andme for decades.
“My advice is to get your data out. I would not leave it there, and it could be too late,” said Caplan.
He said he was not surprised by the announcement, having predicted him in January.
“They were more interested in obtaining data, saliva, reselling,” Caplan told Cnet. “He was marketed and received as a kind of cute bridge. But it was not really the goal that gave him the billions of dollars of value he once had.”
Caplan said that the business model of the company had promised information on the ancestors which, according to him, was not reliable.
“I do not think that science was very good,” he said, adding with a sale of the company, there is no legal obligation to ensure the confidentiality of customers under another owner.
The risks, said Caplan, is that the data could be used in a way that people who have given their saliva cannot anticipate.
“DNA information is very sensitive-it can tell you things about paternity, it can lead government agencies to come after you that you have not thought,” he said. “Genetic data could be used to advertise you.
