23andMe Sale

American biotech firm Regeneron will buy genetic testing company 23andMe out of bankruptcy, the company announced yesterday, at a reported price of $256M. The figure represents a more than 95% drop from 23andMe's peak value of $6B just four years ago. 

A first mover in the emerging industry of personal genomics, 23andMe was founded in 2006 and gained popularity offering at-home saliva tests, named Time's "Invention of the Year" in 2008, for customers to determine their ancestry and genetic profiles. The company sold over 12 million DNA tests but failed to find a sustainable business model—most notably, many customers only needed their product a single time.

Because the company had amassed millions of DNA data tied to identifiable profiles, observers had raised numerous privacy concerns over the sale (the data is not covered by typical health disclosure rules known as HIPAA). Regeneron said it would continue 23andMe's testing business in-house and comply with a mediator-approved review of its privacy policy. 

Listen to an overview of 23andMe's rise and fall.