There is a lot of confusion around 23 and I: Is the company still in business? Is it now owned by Regeneratesthe biotech company that once tried to buy it? Are his genetic testing kits still available for sale? And if you are a customer, what happens to your data? It’s been about a year since 23andMe fell to chapter 11 after a series of financial and regulatory disasters. Last summer, in bankruptcy court, the company’s founder and former CEO, Anne Wojcickiwon a bidding war against Regeneron and took over the assets of 23andMemost importantly the genetic data of millions of users, for $305 million. The company is now under the TTAM Research Institute, a nonprofit Wojcicki created to take 23andMe private.
Its non-profit status means that 23andMe is now more focused on making a positive impact than selling test kits. “We have, in many ways, the same mission and the same business, but now it’s 100 percent aligned with scientific impact,” Wojcicki told the Observer at the Semafor World Economy conference in Washington DC last week. “Everything we do now is through that corner of the foundation’s influence.”
TTAM is a nonprofit medical research organization, which means it is not bound by the 5 percent annual payout rule required of private charities like the Gates Foundation. Instead, she must constantly engage in medical research. The framework also adds a layer of protection for user data. If TTAM were to shut down, it couldn’t sell the data to, say, a hedge fund; the assets would have to be transferred to another nonprofit with a similar mission. During congressional testimony last year, Wojcicki also vowed never to sell data to China or any entity owned by a foreign adversary.
At its peak, 23andMe was valued at $6 billion when it went public in 2021. By the time it filed for bankruptcy, its market cap had fallen to about $20 million. A major turning point came in late 2023, when the company suffered a data breach that ultimately affected nearly seven million users, including the relatives of more than 10,000 users whose accounts were directly compromised. The incident sparked a “delete 23andMe” campaign, prompting about two million users (out of 15 million) to leave the platform before the restructuring.
“Part of the reason we became a nonprofit was to protect data in perpetuity,” Wojcicki said. “Going forward as a nonprofit gives it a new level of stability.”
Despite the user losses, it maintains that customers retained control over their data. “As painful as the last two years have been, what I’m proud of is that we honored our word by making sure customers always had a choice,” she said.
TTAM is funded by both 23andMe revenue and outside equity, and Wojcicki said it is on track to cover research costs through revenue alone. The organization is run by a board with close ties to Wojcicki and the biotech world, including Stephen Quakehead of science at Chan Zuckerberg’s initiative; her sister Janet Wojcickiprofessor of epidemiology at UCSF; CEO of her family office Stephen Magowan; and experienced biotech executive Brad Margus.
A focus on research
Earlier this month, 23andMe published a large study in the scientific journal Nature on genetic predictors for GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. The study provides the first direct genetic evidence explaining why people react differently to medications like Ozempic and Wegovy. By analyzing data from more than 27,000 participants, researchers identified genetic markers associated with weight loss success and risk of serious side effects.
This type of scientific contribution is now the main focus of the company. Medical research is extremely expensive and slow. 23andMe is trying to disrupt that model by building what Wojcicki describes as “a massive, continuous, endless research pool where you can ask all kinds of questions.” Even when recruiting narrowly defined groups—for example, only people with Parkinson’s—the company asks them a wide range of questions, from serious conditions like cancer to specific traits like sneezing in response to sunlight. “We ask all kinds of questions, and because we have all this data — and 13 million people participate — you can do searches almost as if it’s a Google question,” she said during an on-stage interview last week.
Wojcicki’s sister, ex to YouTube CEO, Susan Wojcickidied in August 2024 at the age of 56 after a two-year battle with non-small cell lung cancer. “She was really clear that you have to do whatever you can with my data that advances lung cancer,” Wojcicki said. “So we want to reflect whatever is in our client’s best interest.” She emphasized that 23andMe does not sell user data and only shares scientific knowledge with partners.
“I have two main goals,” Wojcicki said. “One, that every person in the world can benefit from genetic testing. Everyone should know their genetic information. And two, to build the largest open source research platform in the world so we can answer important questions faster and with much less capital.”
