23AndMe DNA Spit Test Were Part Of Bigger Plan

[RAMROD 117,269]

A few months ago, on the morning 23andMe Holding Co. was about to go public, Chief Executive Officer Anne Wojcicki received a framed sheet of paper she hadn’t seen in 15 years. As she was preparing to ring in the Nasdaq bell remotely from the courtyard of her company’s Silicon Valley headquarters, Patrick Chung, one of its earliest investors, presented her with the pitch document she’d shown him when she was first asking for money, reproduced on two pieces of paper so she could see both sides. The one-sheet outlined a radical transformation in the field of DNA testing.
 

Wojcicki’s plan back then was to turn genetics from the rarefied work of high-end labs into mainstream health and quasi entertainment products. First she’d sell tastemakers on her mail-in spit kits as a way to learn sort-of-interesting things about their DNA makeup, such as its likely ancestral origins and the chance it would lead to certain health conditions. Eventually she’d be able to lower prices enough to make the kits broadly accessible, allowing 23andMe to build a database big enough to identify new links between diseases and particular genes. Later, this research would fuel the creation of drugs the company could tailor to different genetic profiles. 23andMe would become a new kind of health-care business, sitting somewhere between a Big Pharma lab, a Big Tech company, and a trusted neighborhood doctor.

Wojcicki did sell millions of people on DNA test kits—11 million and counting—and bring such tests to the mainstream, with some help from Oprah’s holiday gift guide. An estimated 1 in 5 Americans have turned over their genetic material to 23andMe or one of its competitors. Now that she’s got the data, Wojcicki is working on the drugs. Her company is collaborating on clinical trials for one compound (and nearing trials for another) that could be used for what’s known as immuno-oncology, treatments that attempt to harness the body’s complex immune system to beat cancer. 23andMe says it’s also exploring drugs with potential use in treatments for neurological, cardiovascular, and other conditions, though it declined to specify them. Last month the company bought Lemonaid Health, a telehealth and drug delivery startup that offers treatment and prescriptions for a select group of conditions, including depression, anxiety, and STDs.

Of course, Wojcicki, a former Wall Street research analyst with a focus on biotech, did have some experience with outstanding startups. Soon after she closed that round of venture funding, she married longtime boyfriend Sergey Brin, who co-founded Google in her sister Susan’s garage. (Wojcicki and Brin divorced in 2015.) It’s easy to see the Google influence in 23andMe’s strategy—collect all the data, derive whatever insights you can, and find an adjacent line of business with the potential to yield much bigger profits. 

The next phase of her master plan might sorely test that question. While it’s difficult to imagine anyone saying they love their pharmaceutical company, it wouldn’t be crazy for the 8.8 million 23andMe customers who once absently checked a box saying yeah, sure, use my data for whatever, to feel like they’ve been bait-and-switched now that their genes are laying the groundwork for potential cancer cures.

Wojcicki and her co-founders weren’t the first to think of building a database for this purpose, but using consumer DNA kits as an input soon gave her company a massive scalar advantage over pretty much everyone. (The only bigger known databases belong to Ancestry.com and the Chinese government.) 

“We’re not evil,” Wojcicki says. “Our brand is being direct-to-consumer and affordable.” For the time being she’s focused on the long, painful process of drug development. She’d like to think she’s earned some trust, but she hasn’t come this far on faith.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-11-04/23andme-to-use-dna-tests-to-make-cancer-drugs

 

They got you shook now, are you? 

[SharkmanthaC 115,066]

I can't decide how I feel about this. 

I know that they have solved crimes with DNA from this and the Ancestry kits. I haven't done the 23andme kit, but I have done the Ancestry one years ago. I was wanting to do the 23andme one because of the health data it gives you but now I will be second guessing that.

[reysus 1,064]

I think it was always very obvious that the purpose of these genetic testing companies was primarily to gain access to large amounts of genetic data, which otherwise people would not normally basically give away. Frankly using the data for cancer research is one of the more harmless applications of that data, but the creepier part is knowing that they have that data forever and can sell it to whomever wants it, and god knows what the worst thing is they could do.

[Arcadia 1,366]

If anyone is remotely surprised by this 💀

[LaLa 19,898]

Yeah, this is complicated, I don't know.

My parents did Ancestry DNA tests so I don't feel any curiosity to do my own, but I am registered as a bone marrow donor so a quasi-government group has my DNA on file somewhere. I try not to think about it haha 

[Meruk Holland 2,359]

Its not like they're developing the drugs specifically to be addictive. They're tuned to be effective with as many genetic profiles as possible. 

I'm all for it.

[HEARTSTOP 3,154]

I mean, what's the worst someone can do with your genetic data?

Personally target your peanut allergy to kill you? 

[Ployd 874]

This is a huge invasion of privacy to me that we should not just accept because "it can help the greater good". I personally believe these invasions of privacy are going to lead to a dystopian society that we can't easily get out of.

[Queen Gloria 3,464]

On the one hand, it is in invasion of privacy. On the other hand, how is this different from password breeches and social security and any other form of typed personal/"private" information that already exists for all of us on the internet? I'm not going to freak out until I have solid evidence that something nefarious is coming from it. I haven't done 23 & Me or Ancestry, but I would like to someday to learn more about myself and my history. Honestly, what are y'all thinking is gonna happen? Evil clones?

[RAMROD 117,269]

All I'm gonna say is every CEO who had to convince people and media that they and their business are not evil, are usually the opposite. 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

[BradleyCooper 2,305]

Is it an invasion of privacy if you’re consenting to them using it for research? 

[skaxboy 6,979]

If they use the DNA for research then that’s great. If they target you and try to sell you on unnecessary vitamins or  preventative medicine and sell your info to other companies for profit then that’s creepy. However, what if those said medicines could really help the person and helps them live longer. 

[NCgaga 4,345]

2 hours ago, HEARTSTOP said:

I mean, what's the worst someone can do with your genetic data?

Personally target your peanut allergy to kill you? 

Thank you. People are sooooo paranoid about this, and cell phones, vacines, etc. 

[RAMROD 117,269]

38 minutes ago, BradleyCooper said:

Is it an invasion of privacy if you’re consenting to them using it for research? 

As they did not disclose there are more to it, yes, sort of.

[Chromatican 4,046]

2 hours ago, Ployd said:

This is a huge invasion of privacy to me that we should not just accept because "it can help the greater good". I personally believe these invasions of privacy are going to lead to a dystopian society that we can't easily get out of.

So what do we do? Kill ourselves?