What Went Wrong at 23 and Me

The company's DNA spit tests were going to remake healthcare. The science proved more complicated.

- AINSLEY HARRIS

DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER GENETIC TESTING pioneer 23andMe unveiled a new product in May. Cofounder and CEO Anne Wojcicki had long promised that 23andMe would democratize genetics and, in the process, unleash a health revolution based on personalized genomic insights. But the company's newest feature was decidedly more mundane: Through its telehealth service, 23andMe would start writing prescriptions for erectile dysfunction medication.

How the mighty have fallen. Once a leader in delivering genetic information to the masses through its DNA spit kits, 23andMe is now a telehealth also-ran, peddling genetic-based health insights alongside prescription drugs, with a side business mining its databases for drug discovery. The company, valued at $6 billion at its peak in early 2021, is today in danger of a Nasdaq delisting because of its sub-$1 share price.

Wojcicki, one of 23andMe's largest shareholders, embarked this spring on a campaign to take the company private by acquiring the outstanding shares she does not own and, analysts speculate, possibly separating the consumer-facing business from the drug-discovery effort. (Wojcicki declined requests for an interview.) She may very well secure financing and win board approval for such a transaction. But to return 23andMe to its prior glory, or come even close, she will need to do far more.