Eyes on - 23andMe

As 23andMe files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and seeks a court-managed sale, co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki will step down as the company's leader after announcing plans to take 23andMe private almost a year ago and submitting many proposals. Joseph Selsavage, the company's chief financial and accounting officer, will act as interim president and CEO, and Wojcicki will continue to serve on the board of directors of 23andMe. Wojcicki resigned as the company's CEO in order to be in the best position to bid independently for the business.

Through a $3.5 billion SPAC deal led by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, 23andMe became public in early 2021, giving Wojcicki 49.99% of the company's voting power. Since then, as customer interest in at-home DNA and genealogy tests has decreased, its stock price has fallen by over 97%.

Furthermore, the company's plans to become a genetics-informed drugmaker have not worked out. Last November 23andMe closed its cancer therapeutics R&D division, which was working on two immuno-oncology programs in early-phase clinical trials of different solid tumours, and laid off 40% of its employees, or roughly 200 people. At the same time, the FDA has approved DTC tests that look at genetic cancer risks associated with ovarian, breast, and prostate cancers.

The business said in January that it would look for strategic alternatives. The value of 23andMe's shares dropped by about half to around 88 cents when the bankruptcy was announced. 

Wojcicki first offered to pay 40 cents per share in July of last year, but in February, that offer rose to $2.53 a share, with the rejected bid totaling roughly $74 million. In the interim, last October saw 23andMe undergo a 1-for-20 reverse stock split.

The corporation concludes that a court-supervised sale process is the best course of action to maximise the business's worth after carefully weighing its strategic options. In addition to further cost reductions and the resolution of legal and leasehold issues, the company anticipates that the court-supervised procedure will strengthen its efforts to resolve the operational and financial challenges encountered.

Among the company's assets are the genetic data of over 15 million consumers of 23andMe's direct-to-consumer DNA tests, many of whom have consented to have their data used for research purposes. Wojcicki claims these results enabled new drug development initiatives and collaborations with large pharmaceutical companies, such as GSK, and made it possible for over 250 publications to emerge and impact the research field.

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