23andMe develops first drug
Emailed on January 10th 2020 in The Friday Forward
Remember when you gave your parents that ancestry test and your curmudgeon of a cousin was like, "You know, the government will use that to frame you in [insert conspiracy theory here]..."
We all had our theories. Well, all of that genetic material that 23andMe has been collecting is finally being used for commercial drug development — specifically dermatological drugs.
The company inked an agreement with Spanish pharmaceutical developer Almirall, which concentrates on medical dermatology treatments, for the development of dermatological treatments based on an antibody developed by 23andMe.
Roughly 80% of the 10 million people who have signed up for the 23andMe service have consented to have their genetic material used for drug discovery, according to the company. And 23andMe claims that it has the largest set of genotypic information paired with phenotypic data points contributed by customers.
Honestly, it's awesome to see a company capitalize on curiosity, then utilize one of the worlds first massive DNA databases to improve lives.
