2y ago

Drugmakers Are Set to Pay 23andMe Millions to Access Consumer DNA

www.bloomberg.com

Drugmakers Are Set to Pay 23andMe Millions to Access Consumer DNA::GSK will pay the DNA testing company $20 million for non-exclusive access to genetic data.

25 comments

Weren't they hacked recently? Are the drugmakers sure the data isn't cheaper on the black market?
- They're why they're only paying "millions". To big pharma, $20m is just pocket change. Now no one will accuse them of downloading it off the dark net.
Who knew giving away YOUR FUCKING DNA to some company was not a good idea
- Me 10 years ago, apparently.
Are set to ? I thought it was their business model.
fucking scary AF
How is this legal?
- did you not read the terms and conditions before you agreed to them
  
  No
- The data is annonimized.
  
  That somehow makes sense. But still, shouldn't you be able to own "the copyright" for your own DNA? If not there should be some legislation for that I think.
Not the onion. Wow.
Customers are only to blame for sharing giving such data to business that only exist to make money. I have never used these services for the same reason and I will never use them. I don't trust what they will do with this data if not now, then down the line.
- I understand your sentiment, and I do agree that costumers gotta be more aware about what they're getting into.
  With that said, consumers can't be blamed for legislative failures. That's what this is, at its core.
  When people signed up to Facebook, they just wanted to keep in touch with their friends. When people signed up for Instagram, they just wanted to share pictures. They didn't want to be endlessly exploited.
  And let's be real, no one is sifting through these privacy policies and ToS that are designed to be impossible to understand.
  Same thing here. People just wanna understand their genealogy. Wanting to know your ancestry, shouldn't come at the expense of incredibly privacy-invading practices.
  Why is it that we as consumers need to share to these horrendous business practices if we wanna know our ancestry? Why are there no protections in place? Is it realistic/reasonable to have to read all this incomprehensible language?
In the future, you have to subscribe to use your specific genes. No choice in the matter because you were born with them, but big pharma owns the rights to those same genes.
I'm always so glad to never have used that service.
Non pay-walled version: https://archive.ph/gz2dM
As long as it's for research and stays HIPPA compliant I don't really have an issue with it. This would be a good use for AI but that's also kinda horrifying to think about. Having millions of unique human DNA samples to train your AI on would be worth something I presume.
- If they used it to help people, yes. But they're going to charge for whatever they create.

25 comments