Genetic data company 23andMe’s roughly 15 million customers may be at greater risk than they think, and if the company’s short-term woes can’t last, it could spell trouble for others for a long time to come, a new article in the New York Times argues. implies. With continuing interest.
Certainly, with each passing day, founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki’s hopes of going private again look more and more like an illusion. The company, which was valued at $6 billion when it listed in 2021, is now valued at $150 million. It is scheduled to be delisted next month. Media articles are not helpful. (Would you like to buy the kit?)
The company said it is committed to “complying with the laws that govern the data we collect,” but any genomic data in the wrong hands could make matters worse. As a Yale biomedical sciences professor observed in the Times, hacked credit cards can be replaced. Genomes can’t. Meanwhile, technology to analyze the genome is advancing. There is a possibility that more will be revealed.
