23andMe cleared to resume wide ranging DNA testing programme for $199
The US FDA has granted consumer genetics provider 23andMe permission to continue providing customers with health data, two years after the regulator forced it to comply with an order to cease offering its services. 23andMe will now offer substantially less information than before the halt to customers, who will pay $199 to receive information on genetic mutations that can lead to 36 diseases, including cystic fibrosis and sickle-cell anemia. Previously, the company offered far more details to consumers, and at a lower price point of $99, however, crucially, this time with FDA approval. Earlier this month, J. Craig Venter announced that his Human Longevity outfit was to enter into partnership with Discovery Ltd to offer whole exome sequencing, at a $250 price point. 

The genetic testing company 23andMe became a Silicon Valley sensation by providing consumers with health and ancestry information based on a sample of their saliva, but suffered a setback when the Food and Drug Administration told it to stop presenting health data in 2013.

Now, after nearly two years, 23andMe is announcing on Wednesday that it will begin providing customers with health information again, though much less than before and with F.D.A. approval.

The company hopes the information, which relates to the risk of passing certain inherited diseases to one’s children, will reignite growth in its subscriptions — even as the company evolves from being just a consumer testing service into a drug developer. It has also revamped its website to make the genetic information easier to understand and is raising the price of its service to $199, from $99.

“Part of what we tried to do over the last two years is take advantage of being off the market to redesign the entire experience,” said Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and chief executive of 23andMe.