23andMe to Use Genetic Database for Drug Discovery
By Ron Winslow,
Wall Street Journal
| 03. 12. 2015
Untitled Document
23andMe Inc., the personal genetics company, has sold enough DNA spit kits to accumulate genetic information on 850,000 customers. Now it plans to mine that database for drug targets, and it has picked a star drug developer to lead the effort.
The closely held Mountain View, Calif., company on Thursday said Richard Scheller, who retired in December as head of research and early development at Roche Holding AG, will become chief science officer next month and will lead a new therapeutics group that will seek to discover new drugs.
The hope is that mutations and other genetic information harbored in the database—along with links to health information customers have provided to 23andMe—will reveal mechanisms and potential drug targets for a range of rare and common diseases. The information is obtained from customers curious about their DNA who submit saliva to the company for genomic analysis.
The company sends customers their genetic data but says 80% of them agree that 23andMe owns the aggregated data with rights to use it for research. It says the database is the largest...
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