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Title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals To Buy 23andMe and Its Data For $256 Million

Link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/05/19/20392...

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is acquiring most of 23andMe's assets for $256
million. The sale includes 23andMe's Personal Genome Service, Total Health
and Research Services business lines. What's not included is 23andMe's
telehealth unit, Lemonaid Health, which the company acquired for around $400
million in 2021. It'll be shut down, but all staffers will remain employed.
CNBC reports: The deal is still subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Pending approval, it's expected
to close in the third quarter of this year, according to the release. In its
bankruptcy proceedings, 23andMe required all bidders to comply with its
privacy policies, and a court-appointed, independent "Consumer Privacy
Ombudsman" will assess the deal, the companies said. Several lawmakers and
officials, including the Federal Trade Commission, had expressed concerns
about the safety of consumers' genetic data through 23andMe's sale process.
The privacy ombudsman will present a report on the acquisition to the court
by June 10. "We are pleased to have reached a transaction that maximizes the
value of the business and enables the mission of 23andMe to live on, while
maintaining critical protections around customer privacy, choice and consent
with respect to their genetic data," Mark Jensen, 23andMe's board chair, said
in a statement. "At its peak, 23andMe was valued at around $6 billion," notes
the report.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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