If you have ever used 23andMe, you need to delete your data and account immediately

[Beebo Brink]

Assuming that 23andMe actually deleted my information as I requested (an assumption I take with a pinch of salt), my DNA information is not part of that sale. It was the uncertainty over where the data would go and how it would be used that finally convinced me to err on the side of caution and "delete" it.

But if I had been asked, I probably would have consented to this use for drug research. There should have been a consent mechanism, and there is not. And I can see that it would probably be extremely difficult to contact the millions of customers for that consent, given that many had no further contact with the company after they received their results, but that's kinda a "them (the company)" problem, not an "us (the customers)" problem.

 

[Free]

Is this over or not?

Founder of 23andMe buys back company out of bankruptcy auction

Concerns about transfer of genetic data to new company may now be moot.

arstechnica.com

Anne Wojcicki has been declared the winner of a bankruptcy auction for 23andMe, the genetics testing start-up she founded, prevailing over a rival bid from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

TTAM Research Institute, a non-profit public benefit company also founded by Wojcicki, won the auction with a $305 million bid for the 23andMe assets, which will not come with any company liabilities attached.

23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March after rejecting several go-private offers from Wojcicki in recent years. Regeneron was declared the winning bidder in May after the company accepted a $256 million bid in a previous auction.

TTAM then accused the debtor and its advisers of prematurely shutting down the May auction before it could put in a higher bid. The company in court filings said it rejected higher bids from TTAM after it could not confirm its ability to raise necessary financing.

TTAM later said it had obtained backing from a “Fortune 500 company with a current market capitalization of more than $400 billion and $17 billion of cash on hand.”

The federal bankruptcy court in Missouri held additional rounds of bidding on Friday morning to allow TTAM to formally submit a higher bid.

Regeneron had the opportunity to see the “best and final” TTAM bid and make a higher offer, but it declined. It is set to receive a $10 million termination fee, according to court filings.

And it's still not over: TTAM's offer requires judicial approval. A hearing is scheduled for next week.