Glaxo pays $300M for customers’ genetic data
If you’ve ever wondered what the mail-away genetesting service 23andme was doing with all the personal and family bio-information collected from its five million customers, here’s one answer: Selling it to Glaxosmithkline Plc, the British drug giant so Big Pharma can use your information to target and treat your genetic defects, boosting sales and profits.
Glaxo said it has agreed to invest $300 million in 23andme, the Mountain View, Calif., gene-testing company best known for its retail gene reports designed to suggest where your ancestors hail from. The company says more than four-fifths of 23andme customers — or more than 4 million people — agreed when they signed up with the service to let their data be used for research, and now Glaxo’s going to use it.
Anticipating privacy concerns that people who sent samples to 23andme will be publicly identified as subject to genetic diseases, the companies stressed in their joint statement that they “have stringent security protections in place when it comes to collecting, storing and transferring information about research participants,” including data encryption.
Glaxo said in this statement that it plans “an exclusive four-year collaboration that will focus on research and development of innovative new medicines and potential cures, using human genetics as the basis.” Glaxo plans to put “23andme’s large-scale genetic resources” collected from its “consenting” customers, together with GSK’S own science and marketing, to “discover novel drug targets” for “serious unmet medical needs.”
“We are excited about this unique collaboration, as we know that drug targets with genetic validation have a significantly higher chance of ultimately demonstrating benefit for patients and becoming medicines,” said Hal Barron, president of research and development and Chief Scientific Officer at Glaxo. “Partnering with 23andme, an organization whose vision and capabilities are transforming the understanding of how genes influence health, will help to shift our research and development organisation to be ‘driven by genetics,’ and increase the impact GSK can have on patients.”
“Many” 23andme customers have asked for “cures or treatments” for genetic diseases, 23andme CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki said in a statement. “By leveraging the genetic and phenotypic information provided by consenting 23andme customers and combining it with GSK’S incredible expertise and resources in drug discovery, we believe we can more quickly make treating and curing diseases a reality.”
Glaxo and 23andme say the drug company will use the genetic data to “improve target selection” for “precision” medicines; learn more about genetic “pathways and mechanisms” for disease; and “support identification of patient subgroups that are more likely to respond to targeted treatments.”
The deal allows Glaxo to extend the relationship for a fifth year. 23andme says it already has “a portfolio of early stage therapeutic research programs across a wide range of disease indications that will be assessed for inclusion.”