23andMe’s bankruptcy serves as a moment of reflection for the direct-to-consumer (DTC) genomics industry. We analyzed 23andMe financial data and business practices to reveal the factors behind the fall of the company, once valued at US $6 billion and now being considered for acquisition by Regeneron for merely $250 million. Key challenges faced by 23andMe in monetizing its genomic data reveal that this information, at least in a typical DTC setting, is simply not worth that much.
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Change history
03 June 2025
In the version of this article initially published, the correct affiliation for Dina Zielinski (Geneticancer, Paris, France) was not listed, while in Table 1, the status for Knome (Acquired by Tute Genomics) was incorrect. The affiliation and table are now corrected in all versions of the article.
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Y.E. is an employee and shareholder of Eleven Therapeutics, an RNA Therapeutic start-up. D.Z. is an employee and shareholder of WhiteLab Genomics, a gene and cell therapy company.
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Erlich, Y., Zielinski, D. Anatomy of the 23andMe fall and implications for consumer genomics. Nat Biotechnol 43, 854–856 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02683-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02683-z
