Former CEO wins bidding war for 23andMe, beating Regeneron

23andMe's co-founder and former chief executive, Anne Wojcicki, looks set to regain control of the business after emerging victorious in a bidding war for the bankrupt company.

Wojcicki's non-profit organisation TTAM Research Institute won the auction with a bid of $305 million for the genetic testing firm, topping an offer tabled by pharma company Regeneron.

Earlier this year, Regeneron won an earlier auction with a $256 million bid, but Wojcicki persuaded the court overseeing 23andMe's bankruptcy that it was unfair, as TTAM had been prohibited from putting forward an offer over $250 million due to concerns about the group's financial resources.

Armed with additional financial backing from an unidentified 'blue chip' investor, TTAM is now on course to take full control of 23andMe's businesses, which include personal genetic testing, research alliances, and the Lemonaid telehealth business.

There had been reports that Regeneron was prepared to come back with a $315 million offer, but also that the company was seeking a $10 million breakup fee if TTAM was successful. It has not commented on the outcome of the latest auction.

The prospect of a commercial drugmaker getting access to the DNA information on more than 14 million people who sent in saliva samples to get an insight into their health and ancestry had raised concerns in some quarters, although Regeneron insisted it would comply with 23andMe's existing policies on the privacy, security and ethical use of customer data.

TTAM has made additional commitments on data privacy, including ramped-up transparency, opt-out provisions, and protections against identity theft. 23andMe suffered a massive data breach in 2023 that resulted in information from about 7 million people being exposed.

"As 23andMe's founder, Ms Wojcicki is well-positioned to advance the company's founding vision of helping people access, understand and gain health benefits through greater understanding of the human genome," Mark Jensen, chair of 23andMe's board and member of the company's special committee.

"We will work to complete the transaction quickly so that 23andMe can begin its next chapter as a nonprofit."

The TTAM transaction remains subject to approval by the bankruptcy court and other closing conditions, and a hearing has been scheduled for tomorrow to consider the agreement. 23andMe said it expects the transaction to close "in the coming weeks."

23andMe said it was looking to sell the business in January, a few weeks after announcing job losses that cut its headcount by around 40% and an exit from drug discovery and development operations as it tried to slice $35 million off its annual costs. It filed for bankruptcy protection in March.

While initial revenues grew quickly, in recent years they have shifted into reverse, falling 27% to $220 million last year, in part because genetic testing does not generally call for any repeat business, but also because the company lost a research alliance with GSK.