23andMe Found a Buyer for Our Genetic Data, and I’m Kind of Optimistic

The last time we talked about 23andMe’s bankruptcy sale, we suggested you might want to delete your genetic data from the site, since we didn’t know who would end up owning it. Now, a buyer has been announced, and they’re promising to “prioritize the privacy, security and ethical use” of customer data and to keep offering the company’s services uninterrupted. This is all—probably—good news. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic, anyway.

Regeneron will be 23andMe’s new owner

23andMe’s new buyer, paying $256 million for the company’s assets, is Regeneron. Regeneron is a biotech company perhaps best known for developing an antibody treatment for COVID early in the pandemic. (Donald The President was given a dose when he first came down with the virus.) That treatment never made it all the way to market, but the company does market other antibody- and protein-based treatments for conditions like Ebola virus, genetic disorders, and cancers. 

Regeneron’s website states that they “are shaping the next frontier of medicine with data-powered insights from the Regeneron Genetics Center® and pioneering genetic medicine platforms, enabling us to identify innovative targets and complementary approaches to potentially treat or cure diseases.” 

That explains why they’re interested in 23andMe, since it provides a trove of genetic data. Many 23andMe users had also signed up to provide more of their personal medical information for research purposes (this was a separate thing that you would have had to opt in to provide). 

Regeneron says they plan to “continue all consumer genome services uninterrupted,” rather than shut down the company. Lemonaid health, also owned by 23andMe, is not included in the sale.

What this means for your data and privacy

Importantly, Regeneron says they will respect the company’s privacy policy (“and applicable laws”) and the 23andMe press release also says that Regeneron will not be making any changes to the privacy policy. 

The sale, which still needs to be approved by a bankruptcy court, will also include a court-appointed “consumer privacy ombudsman” whose job is to make sure that everyone’s data is treated appropriately. Regeneron says that they’re ready to work with this ombudsman and will detail all their privacy-related plans. 

While we don’t yet know what the future holds, this all has me tentatively optimistic. Yes, a corporation has your data and intends to profit from it; but that was also true of 23andMe in its heyday. The policies about privacy and consent that you agreed to when contributing your data will still be in effect. 

The 23andMe community seems to be cautiously optimistic. In a r/23andme Reddit thread about the sale, one redditor, who identifies themselves as an academic biomedical researcher, says “I would rather [Regeneron] have my data than an insurance provider or just random [venture capitalist].” Another redditor says, “So there really is not [a] best case scenario here, there's just ‘wait and see’ and bad. And this is more of a ‘wait and see’ than a bad.” And another says “I know people side eye big pharma (rightfully in most circumstances) but this is a much better outcome than many other situations.” 

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