17 US dollars per gene data record: US pharmaceutical company takes over 23andme
The insolvent genetic analysis company 23andme is taken over by a pharmaceutical company that wants to continue the business and has promised data protection.
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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has made the highest bid for 23andme and intends to acquire the insolvent genetic analysis company for 256 million US dollars. The US biotechnology company has announced this and assured that it intends to maintain all of 23andme's existing data protection provisions. The genetic analysis business for private individuals will be continued and 23andme will continue to exist as a subsidiary. The competent insolvency court and the competition authorities still have to approve the takeover. Regeneron intends to use the data for drug research. According to Reuters, the winning bid was almost twice as high as the second-placed bid.
Insolvency after huge data leak
The insolvency of 23andme was the result of a data leak that was made public in the fall of 2023. At the time, the company had stated that the highly sensitive data of people who had their genes analyzed had been offered for sale by criminals. It gradually emerged that unknown individuals had managed to access account data using credential stuffing. This means that they were able to log in with captured access data from other services because they were reused for 23andme. Ultimately, the data of almost seven million users was offered for sale on the dark net. A class action lawsuit ended in a settlement.
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As a result, 23andme's share price collapsed and the company filed for bankruptcy protection in March. After that, so many customers wanted to delete their data that the systems were overloaded. The online magazine 404 Media has now calculated that the takeover price now paid by Regeneron means that the genetic data held by 23andme costs around 17 US dollars per person. Less than seven years ago, the company concluded an investment agreement with a pharmaceutical company that included access to anonymized DNA information for as much as 60 US dollars per data record.
(mho)
