23andMe will mine its DNA database for health and wealth

To get this far, Wojcicki weathered an annus horribilis that threatened to end it all—her separation from Brin in 2013 came at the same time the Food Drug Administration forced 23andMe to immediately cease health-test sales—and has faced skeptics who viewed her company as little more than a parlor trick. Wojcicki wants to leverage the exponentially plunging costs of genetic sequencing (down 99% in a decade) and 23andMe’s massive DNA library (the world’s largest genetic research database) to fuel a “biotech machine” that will not just indicate genetic predispositions to certain diseases but also help create the drugs that will treat those diseases. So, in July of last year, Wojcicki inked a deal with U.K.-based giant GSK (formerly called GlaxoSmithKline; 2018 sales: $31 billion), which invested $300 million in 23andMe and signed a four-year exclusive partnership to identify new drug targets.

Source: www.forbes.com