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Facebook generates about $8 a year in revenue from each of its users. But what if you offered a company not just your photos and updates, but your entire genome?
Then you could be worth as much as $20,000.
That’s my rough calculation for what Genentech could pay direct-to-consumer gene testing company 23andMe for the chance to trawl the DNA of each of several thousand of its customers for genetic clues to Parkinson’s disease.
The deal between the two companies, announced today, provides some fascinating insights into the evolving DNA business and the commercial prospects for 23andMe, a high-flying company that’s had some problems in the U.S. with regulators. According to detailed coverage over at Forbes, Genentech will pay as much as $60 million for access to 3,000 Parkinson’s patients in 23andMe’s database.
The backstory is that 23andMe pioneered direct-to-consumer genetic tests starting in 2006. It asked consumers to spit in a tube and send it in, and sent back a detailed summary of their risks for common diseases like macular degeneration. But then in 2013 the U.S...