A bankruptcy judge has the sale of approved 23andMe to the Non -Profit TTAM Research Institute, owned by co -founder and former CEO of 23andme Anne Wojcicki, as a result of which the DNA of the company’s customers will not be transferred to a third party.
Publicly traded 23andme collects saliva -based DNA from customers through its test kits to provide information about their origins and potential risk of diseases. The company stores the data of users and spit monsters and then offers an analysis of their genetic information.
Ttam, a nod to “twenty -three and me” Pasted to buy almost all the company’s assets for $ 305 million, which judge Brian Walsh of the American Bankruptcy Court in the eastern district of Missouri has now approved.
The larger trend
In March, 23andme Entered for Chapter 11 in the eastern district of Missouri to facilitate a sales process.
At the time, Wojcicki resigned from its role as CEO and Joe Sels advocation, Chief Financial and Accounting Officer, appointed by the Board of Directors as Interim -CEO.
During the bankruptcy procedure, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in New York won an auction to acquire the company for $ 256 million.
Subsequently, a group of 27 states and the District of Columbia brought a lawsuit to prevent 23andme from selling the genetic data of customers without their explicit permission, in particular in the context of the acquisition by Regeneron.
The lawsuit argued that genetic data is uniquely sensitive and should not be treated as a merchandise or other property.
According to NPRA lawyer who represents Oregon stated that the sale meets the concerns of the State; The judge’s ruling, however, noted that a handful of states, including Kentucky, California, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, remain against the sale. Those have until midnight on July 7 to get a stay to appeal against the decision.
Pennsylvania Attorney -General Dave Sunday announced That, together with a coalition of Attorney General, he supports the sale of 23andme, which he says he will protect consumer data. Pennsylvania was one of the states that A lawsuit tightened To block the sale of the data from 23andme.
After the bankruptcy announcement in March, the Attorney General Rob Bonta of California has one Urgent consumer warning Advising users to ask the company to delete their genetic data.
The Bonta office will continue to object to TTAM and declares that it is not satisfactory of California Genetic information Privacy ActFor which companies must receive optimum consent from customers before they sell their genetic information to third parties.
In 2023, 23andme experienced a considerable data breach that hit its users about seven million. The infringement that exposed user data, including ancestor information and some health -related data.
The data break included a “reference filling” attack, a kind of cyber attack in which the attacker collects stolen account data, including usernames and passwords, and attempts to log in to other non -related platforms.
The incident led to a class action right case and a proposed settlement of $ 30 million.
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