What started as a fun ancestry test just became a pharmaceutical goldmine
In a move that’s part sci-fi thriller, part corporate fire sale, pharma heavyweight Regeneron has scooped up 23andMe—and its massive vault of genetic data—for a cool $256 million.
That’s a steep drop from the DNA-testing darling’s $6 billion heyday, but still leagues above its bargain-bin valuation just months ago.
Regeneron beat out six rivals to land the deal, snapping up not just a company but a treasure trove of genetic material from up to 15 million customers.
Privacy advocates have been sounding alarms since 23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March, urging users to yank their data before it ended up in a pharma lab.
But with no clear numbers on how many actually did, Regeneron now owns one of the world’s richest genetic databases.
The company insists it’s committed to protecting the data and plans to use it for large-scale research.
Which, to be fair, was kind of the plan all along — just maybe not like this.
If your spit’s in the system, now’s the time to ask: who really owns your DNA?
