Genetic-testing startup 23andMe Inc., which popularized a $99 DNA saliva test, says it will move from screening people for diseases to researching new drugs to cure those diseases.
The company says it wants to utilize the huge body of genetic data it has collected over the last few years to start conducting such research.
Pharmaceutical companies are already using that data; Genentech and Pfizer Inc. have both entered into partnerships with 23andMe Inc. to use its database for their own drug research programs.
That means if 23andMe moved into the drug researcher business, it would be competing with some of its own partners.
That won't change its relations with those partners, 23andMe president Andy Page has said.
"The idea of multiple entities accessing the database concurrently is something we're comfortable with," he said.
23andMe - the company name comes from the 23 pairs of chromosomes in human cells - has been looking for new business avenues since 2013 when it failed to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for its saliva-based DNA testing kit.
It has recently gained FDA approval for its first specific screening test, meant to identify Bloom Syndrome, a rare genetic condition linked with sun sensitivity and increased cancer risk.
23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki says the company, by entering the research arena, could move drug development into "a more efficient model."
"Pharma companies don't have a direct relationship with consumers, so they're always subjects," she says. "By engaging [consumers] and giving [the results] to them as a prize, saying, 'You've powered this study and you've made this happen,' we can do things in a different way."
If 23andMe can identify disease causes through in its DNA database, she says, why not go further and try to discover the cures?
"I want to push the limits," she says.
Richard Scheller, former head of research and development at Genentech, will head 23andMe's therapeutics group.
He spent 15 years at Genentech, a company that created the pioneering cancer treatment drugs Avastin and Herceptin, before retiring.
"I knew that I wasn't going to stay retired very long," he said in a interview with Bloomberg. "I wasn't exactly sure about what I was going to do, but I knew I was going to get into human genetics."
Genentech was an early investor in 23andMe, along with Google and New Enterprise Associates.
Since its founding in 2006, 23andMe has raised $126 million in funding.
