On Sunday, the genetic test and heritage company 23andme announced That he entered into bankruptcy in Chapter 11 and asked the court to agree on the sale. The company lost money for many years, and the conflict between the board of directors and the general director about future directions led to The whole board is resigned Back in September. According to the General Director Ann Voichitski, now resigned and will strive to buy the company and accept it in private.
The fate of genetic data from 15 million customers of the company is put on the card. The company received a sufficient amount of funding to continue to work, while the buyer was found, and although the US law limits how genetic data can be used, the awaited sale has raised significant confidentiality problems.
Risky business
The company launched at about a time when the “genes of genes” first allowed people to scan the human genome wide on the subject of the areas where there were ordinary variations. Some of these options are associated with diseases, and 23andme received approval for testing for several of them. But his large trading point of view for many people was the opportunity to study their heritage. This was based on that it was generally considered on the schemes of variation and comparing the patterns with templates usually found in different geographical regions. This is an imperfect analysis, but it can often provide a decent permission to human ancestors.
23andme was faced with a number of problems. To begin with, genes' chips quickly became goods, which allowed a larger series of competitors to enter the field, some of which had stronger background in such things as connecting genealogies with public records. This compartment also meant that many potential 23 and partners in the pharmaceutical industry, who can be interested in relations with genes/diseases, can reach their own databases or simply rely on some of the state resources, which have been developed since then Britain BiobankField
