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23andMe’s bankruptcy serves as a moment of reflection for the direct-to-consumer (DTC) genomics industry. We analyzed 23andMe financial data and business practices to reveal the factors behind the fall of the company, once valued at US $6 billion and now being considered for acquisition by Regeneron for merely $250 million. Key challenges faced by 23andMe in monetizing its genomic data reveal that this information, at least in a typical DTC setting, is simply not worth that much.
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Competing interests
Y.E. is an employee and shareholder of Eleven Therapeutics, an RNA Therapeutic start-up. D.Z. is an employee and shareholder of WhiteLab Genomics, a gene and cell therapy company.
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Erlich, Y., Zielinski, D. Anatomy of the 23andMe fall and implications for consumer genomics.
Nat Biotechnol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02683-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02683-z
