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Biotech Businesses

Struggling 23andMe Is Exploring Splitting the DNA Company In Two (seekingalpha.com) 35

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki said the company was considering splitting its consumer and therapeutics businesses in an effort to boost its stock price and maintain its listing. From a report: Bloomberg noted that the stock has lost more than 90% of its value since the company went public in 2021 through a SPAC merger. Bloomberg said the therapeutics business could be an attractive asset for a larger healthcare company. The business currently has two drug candidates in clinical trials and just received approval to commence testing for a third. The company's DNA database of more than 14 million customers is one of the world's largest. Currently, 23andMe derives most of its revenue from its consumer business, Bloomberg added.

23andMe's stock has been trading below $1 since December, hurt by revelations that hackers were able to access the personal information of around 50% of its subscribers. The company is also facing mounting litigation over the incident. The company is expected to release its Q4 earnings report after market close on Wednesday.

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Struggling 23andMe Is Exploring Splitting the DNA Company In Two

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  • by SysEngineer ( 4726931 ) on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @07:29PM (#64223404)
    When 23and Me allowed police to use the database, I will not support them.
    • At this point, anyone with a couple hundred dollars can probably buy your data.

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      When 23and Me allowed police to use the database, I will not support them.

      I'm less concerned with the police (because everyone from government oversight to swivel-eyed loons are watching them and ultimately have to follow the law) and more concerned with what kind of private companies bought that data. Imagine if your health insurer had access to it or marketing companies... Oh wait, they probably do.

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      When 23and Me allowed police to use the database, I will not support them.

      Except it wasn't 23andme that did it, it was an open-source genetic database that was used. 23andme didn't actually let police access their database at all - in fact, they can't.

      You see, what police have access to is far different than what 23andme does - 23andme keeps track of information on specific locations of your genetic code, while the police database tracks known unique markers in the genetic code. And the two actually overla

  • I hope they don't run out of DNA Polymerase.
  • they were one of those tech darlings. I can't imagine Americans were smart enough to realize giving their DNA to a Facebook style mega corp was a bad idea (even without considering the police angle). And they collapsed long before the hack, that was just nails in the coffin.

    One thing I do love that came out of this was all the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who signed up for 23andMe and found out Uncle Ruckus style [youtube.com] they were 1/3 black or something. That will never stop being hilarious.
    • Hmmm I gave them my DNA, and I also gave it to GEDMatch and checked the box specifically authorizing them to provide my DNA to police agencies when requested. If my DNA can help police catch a killer, that's a good thing, from my perspective.

      • So the problem is if your DNA shows up in a database somewhere and someone with a gun in a badge comes knocking at your door with a search warrant and decides to charge you with something.

        At least once a week I see a story of someone who was completely innocent doing anywhere from 10 to 40 years in prison before they are exonerated and that doesn't take into account all the people who haven't and never will be exonerated.

        Giving away our criminal system works I would prefer fewer interactions with la
        • In this context, it's no different from misinterpretation of fingerprint evidence. Your fingerprints are almost certainly on file with your state. Most states now require fingerprints just to get a driver's license. Just as police could find your DNA at a crime scene where you had no involvement, they could find your fingerprints at a crime scene where you had no involvement.

          There are many innocent people who are convicted of crimes. Some of those cases involved DNA evidence, some of them rely on fingerprin

        • So the problem is if your DNA shows up in a database somewhere and someone with a gun in a badge comes knocking at your door with a search warrant and decides to charge you with something.

          This happens with facial recognition software, but DNA is actually unique, not just "looks close, so we'll book him."

          The one partial exception is if you have an identical twin. Even there, there are SNP variations between twins (https://www.livescience.com/identical-twins-dont-share-all-dna.html ), but they will be mostly the same, and the differences might not be found without a more detailed analysis than might be seen in an ancestry-level DNA analysis. But, you'd know if you have a twin, and "50:50 chanc

    • I don't recall the details, but apparently there was a huge blood type survey done in the United States after WWII. So many results came back indicating that children had a blood type incompatible with their male parent that the survey was suppressed.

    • What happened to them was security breaches.

      Most Americans are too dumb and too bought into the system to be worried that the cops will misuse the data, but they are afraid enough that someone will clone them or something else implausible that there was significant mistrust even before the breaches.

  • or would meiosis be a better description ?

  • Here's the prophase comment to start things off.

  • So splitting a DNA company in two is what....two RNA companies, perhaps in preparation for replication?
  • There are 23 pairs of human chromosomes.
  • So theyâ(TM)re going to create two âoe11.5 And Meâ companies?
  • When this does go bankrupt, what happens to the customer data? Is is sold as an asset like any other? Will there be any restrictions on what the buyer can do with that data?

Truly simple systems... require infinite testing. -- Norman Augustine

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