The founder of 23andMe Research Institute wants to reach 100 million users, an ambitious goal after the seller of DNA testing kits emerged from bankruptcy as a nonprofit.
23andMe has the DNA of about 13 million users who mailed in saliva samples in exchange for data about their genetic code. In an interview with Bloomberg’s The Circuit with Emily Chang, Anne Wojcicki said it needs to expand its customer base dramatically.
“To do things we want to do, particularly in an AI world, you want hundreds of millions” of users, she said.
23andMe and Wojcicki have gone through a tumultuous few years. The company’s board resigned en masse two years ago, just a few weeks after the death of her sister, Susan, who had been YouTube’s chief executive officer. Wojcicki describes being blindsided by the board’s move, calling it “an unbelievable surprise to me.”
After going public in 2021, the company never turned a profit as it struggled to convert one-time genetic test buyers into paying subscribers for other health services. Wojcicki planned to take the company private, but negotiations with the board broke down.
One of the former board members, Patrick Chung, said in a statement that “it became necessary to reorganize 23andMe and cut some programs,” but the company’s mission “remains fully alive” under Wojcicki’s leadership.
Once valued at about $6 billion, 23andMe filed for bankruptcy last year. A few months later, Wojcicki won an auction for the company’s assets, agreeing to pay $305 million for the cache of customer DNA data.
She has turned 23andMe into a nonprofit. It still sells an ancestry service as well as other, more expensive products, including a kit that includes DNA analysis and blood testing. It’s also making its DNA database accessible to researchers and contributing to published scientific articles on obesity drugs and cannabis.
23andMe operates in a different tech and political landscape than it did in its early days. Direct-to-consumer health platforms have gone mainstream after the rise of firms like Hims & Hers Health Inc. Also, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement has raised awareness about chronic disease prevention, an idea that aligns with 23andMe’s mission.
Wojcicki recalls having made peace with losing the company while she competed against the large drugmaker, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., in a bankruptcy auction. After learning that Regeneron wouldn’t try to top her bid, Wojcicki described a feeling of joy that was like an “out-of-body experience.”
“I couldn’t stop screaming,” she said. “I was screaming, jumping up and down. I was crying.”
During 23andMe’s bankruptcy proceedings, customers and government officials raised concerns about what would happen to sensitive genetic data if the company changed hands. Roughly 2 million people deleted their data during that period, Wojcicki said. She has agreed to new limits on the use of the sensitive customer data, which includes details on ancestry, genetic traits and health risks.
Despite all the changes, Wojcicki remains committed to 23andMe’s goal to use its DNA database to discover new treatments and help people improve their health.
She says she wants 23andMe to be “the open science platform for the world” to make discoveries about “diseases, Alzheimer’s, everything,” she said.
Smith and Chang write for Bloomberg.
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