DNA testing firm 23andMe (MEHCQ) is being bought out of chapter by large-cap drugmaker Regeneron (REGN), for $256 million.
The deal consists of “considerably all belongings,” however excludes the telehealth platform, pharmacy success enterprise, and lab and check ordering companies underneath Lemonaid Well being, based on the settlement filed within the US Chapter Court docket within the Japanese District of Missouri. The deal is scheduled to shut July 1.
The information despatched 23andMe’s top off greater than 26% in pre-market buying and selling. Regeneron’s inventory was up simply over 1%.
The steep low cost on the as soon as highly-valued testing agency places to finish considerations concerning the destiny of delicate genetic information of thousands and thousands of consumers. It additionally aligns with a method the 23andMe had been efforting for yr.
“Regeneron intends to amass 23andMe’s Private Genome Service (PGS), Whole Well being and Analysis Providers enterprise traces, along with its Biobank and related belongings, for $256 million and for 23andMe to proceed all client genome companies uninterrupted. Topic to chapter court docket and regulatory approvals and different customary closing circumstances, the transaction is predicted to shut within the third quarter of 2025,” Regeneron mentioned in a press release Monday.
23andMe, which launched in 2006, was famously lead and co-founded by Anne Wojcicki — ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The corporate had tried for 10 years to create a sturdy enterprise phase pairing its DNA information financial institution with drug discovery — hoping to make it a extra environment friendly course of because the trade turned to extra personalised and focused therapies. However the few partnerships it succeeded in securing over time produced little.
Regeneron is already within the enterprise of linking de-identified genetic information to drug discovery, based on co-founder and board chair George Yancopoulos.
“Now we have deep expertise with large-scale information administration, having labored with collaborators world wide to hyperlink deidentified DNA sequences from almost three million consented members to digital well being information, safely and securely enabling future medical advances. We imagine we may help 23andMe ship and construct upon its mission to assist these excited by studying about their very own DNA and methods to enhance their private well being, whereas furthering Regeneron’s efforts to make use of large-scale genetics analysis to enhance the way in which society treats and prevents sickness general,” he mentioned in a press release Monday.
23andMe started shutting down scientific trials in November of final yr, and filed for chapter in March.
