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Today we’re announcing <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/press/12_11_2012/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">some big news</a>. I don’t want this moment to go by without a note of gratitude to our customers and those who have been advocates for 23andMe over the years.
We have come a long way together.  Because of you we pioneered the use of personal genetics.  You are helping us establish a new medical era that is defined by wellness, disease prevention, and personalized care.  You also helped us create a novel research platform.  By leveraging online tools, social networking and crowd sourcing, and combining them with genetics, we created a platform that has set the stage to transform the way pharma companies and academics do health and wellness research.
We want to do more.
23andMe has raised more than $50 million in new financing with the goal of reaching one million customers.  To help us reach our goal, we are happy to announce today, that we are dropping our price to $99.
One million customers can be the tipping point that moves medicine into the molecular era.  Hundreds of you have written to us about how genetic information changed your lives and, in some cases, saved your lives.  We believe genetics should be an integral part of health care and we will work hard in the coming year to help genetics become part of everyone’s health and wellness.
A community of one million individuals will also benefit the world.  A genetic data resource of this magnitude has enormous potential to address unanswered questions related to the contributions of genes, the environment and your health.  Understanding these factors and their interactions could lead to major improvement in diagnostics, preventive medicine and therapeutics [<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v429/n6990/abs/nature02628.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Collins NATURE | VOL 429 | 27 MAY 2004</a>].
This change is not just about a new price point for personal genetic testing. It is about an ambitious plan that could transform medicine for generations to come.
If you have questions about the new pricing please go to our FAQ or email your questions to customercare@23andMe.com.
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23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

One Million Strong

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23andMe received more than half a million dollars recently from the<a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/press/nih_awards_2012"> National Institutes of Health (NIH) for three research projects</a>.
The grants support some of the important online genome-wide association studies 23andMe has pioneered – in this case one grant will go towards research into the genetics of allergies and asthma. But the NIH money will also support two other research projects that help push our work into new realms.
One project will develop methods for assessing the accuracy of new sequencing technologies in clinical applications, while the third grant supports a project to develop new survey and data collection tools that can be used in whole-genome sequencing research.
Principal Scientist and statistical geneticist Dave Hinds is spearheading the <a href="http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?icde=0&amp;aid=8394670">research into asthma and allergies</a> by leveraging the more than 100,000 people in our database who have consented to participate in research. As part of the grant, Dave plans to partner with experts in the genetics of asthma and allergies.
Our research platform gives the team working on this project a bit of a head start because we have about 25,000 customers participating in research who also report having one or more allergies. About 8,000 say they’ve been diagnosed with asthma. This gives us two large cohorts to help us begin the work that could provide breakthroughs to help so many more people. Allergies and asthma affect as many as one in five Americans, making better understanding of the genetics behind these conditions an important public health priority.
We are also excited by the research being overseen by Brain Naughton, our Founding Scientist. The project, <a href="http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?icde=0&amp;aid=8394910">“Development of DNA Sequencing Data-Quality Metrics for Personal Genomics”</a> will be important for laying the groundwork for the eventual broad adoption of whole-genome sequencing. Before that can happen however, we must ensure that the results are accurate and create standards for how that is measured. Brian and his team will analyze about 150 exomes (including 50 new exomes sequenced for this project) and 100 whole genomes to investigate false positive and false negative rates for variants located in known disease genes.
Finally, Nick Eriksson, also a Principal Scientist and statistical geneticist, will lead the development of tools that would <a href="http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?icde=0&amp;aid=8395172">improve the reliability of online self-reported data</a>. &nbsp;The long-term goal of this multi-phased project is to accelerate the research 23andMe currently does and increase the scope and reach of that research.

Three New Research Projects from 23andMe

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Another friend of 23andMe, <a href="http://theastronautssecret.com/">Rich Clifford</a>, the former NASA astronaut who has become a powerful voice for those with Parkinson’s, was recently featured on CNN.
Always an inspiration, Rich spoke with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta about his life with Parkinson’s disease. A career military officer, he flew on the Space Shuttle Atlantis two years after getting his own diagnosis for Parkinson’s. Now, more than 20 years later, he has become an advocate for others battling the disease.
He is also a big supporter of 23andMe’s <a href="https://www.23andme.com/pd/">Parkinson’s research initiative</a>. He said 23andMe’s test offers people an opportunity to learn of their genetic risk for the disease before they get it. This gives them a chance to take steps for early intervention before they get symptoms. 
 
Take a look at the CNN piece.
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A more in-depth look at his story and his fight against Parkinson’s is the subject of Zach Jankovic’s soon to be completed documentary, <a href="http://theastronautssecret.com/">“The Astronaut’s Secret.”</a>
If you haven&#8217;t already, take a look at some of our recent posts on Parkinson&#8217;s:
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/in-washington-talking-about-parkinsons-research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> 23andMe Goest to Washington</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-research/23andme-research/why-not-participate-one-patients-perspective/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Why Not Participate? One Patient’s Perspective</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-research/23andme-research/23andmes-latest-publication-shines-light-on-male-pattern-baldness-and-unexpected-associations-with-disease/"> 23andMe’s Latest Publication Shines Light on Male Pattern Baldness and Unexpected Associations with Disease</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-research/23andme-and-you/23andme-and-parkinsons-past-present-and-future/"> 23andMe and Parkinson’s: Past, Present, and Future</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-research/news/the-state-of-the-science-of-parkinsons-research/"> The State of the Science of Parkinson’s Research</a>

Another Hero in the Fight Against Parkinson’s

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A big congratulations from everybody here at 23andMe to our Senior Medical Director Uta Francke, who’ll be picking up the William Allan Award from the American Society of Human Genetics in San Francisco this morning.
A medical doctor and professor emeritus of Genetics and Pediatrics at Stanford University, Uta has never rested on her long record of achievement. She continues to break new ground in genetics research and inspire her fellow scientists here at 23andMe.
This award – one in a long string of accolades she’s received in her career – recognizes her singular scientific contributions in the field of genetics.
In making the announcement, Joann Boughman, the executive vice president of the American Society of Human Genetics noted the respect she commands among geneticists offering a “stellar example of a tireless scientist, always seeking answers to any question that she becomes interested in, and pursing a variety of research techniques that will advance the knowledge in that particular subject.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Uta has spent decades on the leading edge of genetic research particularly focusing on human genetic diseases. Among her many achievements were groundbreaking new insights into such genetic diseases as Charcot-Marie-Tooth, Marfan, Rett, Prader-Willi, Williams, and Wiskott-Aldrich syndromes. Her work opened new avenues for the study and treatment of these disorders.
Uta, who served as president of the ASHG in 1999, continues to make contributions on many levels. Beyond her work in basic research, Uta is helping 23andMe – and the direct-to-consumer genetics industry as a whole – move into a new era of personalized medicine.
As a testament to her forward-thinking one need only look back to her remarks more than a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1288184/">decade ago to the ASHG</a> when she noted that genetic information would increasingly influence primary medicine. She called for educating both physicians and the public about genetics. And, as if foreseeing her own role at 23andMe, she pointed to the potential that the Internet would be how people could get access to genetic information.
23andMe is extremely proud of her achievements and continues to draw inspiration from her work.

23andMe’s Uta Francke Lauded by ASHG

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The<a href="http://geneticalliance.org/"> Genetic Alliance</a>, a nonprofit health advocacy organization, is asking for support to expand people’s right to their own health information by giving them direct access to their clinical laboratory test results.
23andMe supports this position and several of our employees are signing-on to <a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/CLIA-Consensus-Letter-10-12-2012-1.pdf">a letter </a>the organization has put together advocating the rule change. If you agree, we’d like to encourage you to sign as well.
Here’s a few reasons why:
We believe people need quick and convenient access to test results so they can better manage their own health. We believe people should have the same right to access  their lab results as they do to their other medical records. And we believe that by giving people a simple way to access these records, it will improve the level of care and produce better health outcomes.
This proposed change is a long time coming. About a year ago, 23andMe submitted comments along with more than<a href="http://www.regulations.gov/#%21docketBrowser;dct=PS;rpp=50;po=50;D=CMS-2011-0145"> 150 others</a> to the Department of Health and Human Services about a proposed federal rule change (<a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-14/html/2011-23525.htm">CMS-2319-P</a>) that amends the current quality standards that are part of the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuidance/IVDRegulatoryAssistance/ucm124105.htm">Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988</a> – known as CLIA. The change specifies that, upon a patient’s request, the laboratory must provide access to completed test reports.
These <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=201104&amp;RIN=0938-AQ38">changes</a> are part of a series of reforms governing access and privacy around health records. About a dozen years ago, changes were first made that gave people access to their health information. Another change made a few years later gave people the right to obtain those records electronically, but because of a fluke in overlapping regulation, the rules didn’t apply to laboratory test results.
In addition to that rule, another related to Medicare and Medicaid only permitted the release of lab results to “authorized persons,” a term that doesn’t include patients themselves. The proposed change will correct these quirks in the law and give people the access to all their health records.
Beyond the fact that a person should have the right to their own health information, there are a lot of other very good reasons for access. We’ve mentioned a few already, but the Genetic Alliance’s <a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/CLIA-Consensus-Letter-10-12-2012-1.pdf">detailed letter</a> gives plenty more including: saving money by avoiding redundant testing; giving patients the ability to quickly access this information in an emergency; and preventing harm by informing people of issues they might not have learned without access to their test results.
We invite anyone else who supports this guarantee for access to their clinical laboratory test results to sign on. If you or your organization wish to sign onto the letter below, send your name, credentials if applicable, title and organization to:<a href="about:blank"> Barbara Wilkinson &lt;bwilkinson@geneticalliance.org</a>
Thank you.

23andMe Supports Better Access to Health Records

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We would like to give a little shout-out to Holly Dunsworth, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Rhode Island and a blogger, for her thoughtful post<a href="http://ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2012/10/be-afraid-of-fear-not-personal-genomics.html"> “Be Afraid of Fear, Not Personal Genomics.”</a>
<h6>Fear</h6>
While there are legitimate topics for debate about genetic testing, some coverage veers far from those real issues, and seemingly serves only to scare people.
Dunsworth cites a few paragraphs from a recent<a href="http://m.npr.org/news/Health/160958948"> NPR piece</a> that includes a quote from Mark Rothstein, a bioethicist at the University of Louisville.
“We&#8217;re basically not ready for a society in which very exquisite, detailed genomic information about every individual, potentially, is out there,” Rothstein said.
Why that might be is not explained by Rothstein, and this is Dunsworth’s point. It just hangs out there playing on people’s fear.
<h6>Access</h6>
It’s a disservice to play up those fears. In this case, the statement by Rothstein supposes that because a person knows his or her own genomic information, somehow anyone else can learn about it. But that’s not true. There are strong privacy protections for that data. At the same time, if a person is comfortable sharing their information with others, they have the right to do that. This goes back to some of the bedrock  principles of ethics that include the autonomy and respect for individuals. Those  principles should make clear that a person both has a right to access to their own DNA data, and the right to use it as they see fit.

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<h6>Understanding</h6>
In a comment to her own post, Dunsworth points out that in the NPR piece in early September there is more space dedicated to the 1997 fictional dystopian movie Gattaca than to real topics for discussion. For Dunsworth, this feeds into people’s own fears and ignorance about the science rather than informing them.
“Even if you don&#8217;t get an ounce of joy from the experience, when you&#8217;re informed you don&#8217;t fall uncritically for claims that (genetic testing is) … dangerous or venomous,” she writes.
One of the missions of 23andMe is to <a href="https://www.23andme.com/gen101/genes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">introduce people to their DNA</a> and help them navigate what all the As, Gs, Ts and Cs mean. Our hope is that the more you know about yourself the more you will take charge of your own health. It is also fascinating and fun to explore your genetics and learn about how it may impact your health, or how it makes you unique, or what it says about your ancestry. In the process, we learn that science is dynamic and our knowledge constantly evolving as we find out more about ourselves and what our DNA means.
The journey you take can be both awe-inspiring and fascinating. And as Dunsworth says:
“There&#8217;s not a whole lot on the planet that&#8217;s cooler than that.”

Fear Not The Genome

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Editor&#8217;s note: The post has been edited from the original to reflect changes in the product.
We’re a little late to the party, but yesterday a consortium of scientists, who are part of a project called The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, or<a href="https://www.genome.gov/10005107"> ENCODE</a>, came out with what some are calling a roadmap of the human genome.
<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v489/n7414/full/489049a.html">It’s a big party.</a>
More than 400 scientists worked on the project, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health over the last five years at a cost of about $130 million. The announcement came with a blizzard of 30 papers in the journals Nature and Genome Research and many more are expected to come.
There has been some great coverage that explains both the background and gives some context, such as a nice piece by Nature writer<a href="https://www.nature.com/news/encode-the-human-encyclopaedia-1.11312"> Brendan Maher’s</a>. Discovery Magazine blogger Ed Yong did a yeoman’s job of the history of ENCODE’s work and what the future may hold. And <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/science/far-from-junk-dna-dark-matter-proves-crucial-to-health.html?_r=2&amp;hp">Gina Kolata’s article</a> in the New York Times includes our favorite quote. It came from Eric Lander, president of the Broad Institute, who compared the data to a sort of Google Map of the genome and said it was a stunning resource for researchers.
“My head explodes at the amount of data,” Lander said. 
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Us too, and the challenge is really giving people a sense of what it all means. Much of the work in genetics has been focused on the areas in our DNA that code for proteins, but this is a very small part – just 1 percent – of our genome. The ENCODE project is an attempt to map the other 99 percent, the uncharted “dark matter” of our genome.
There’s much that’s interesting there it turns out. And the work sheds some light on the importance of what once was labeled “junk DNA.” It turns out, unsurprisingly, that it’s not junk and the data from ENCODE provides evidence that many of those mysterious regions of the genome play important functional roles.
For us at 23andMe the <a href="http://regulomedb.org/">ENCODE data</a> sheds more light on some of the genetic variations (mainly single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs) scientists have associated with health conditions and traits. S
There are many SNPs in the 9p21 region associated with coronary heart disease, and based on the ENCODE data, it appears that this SNP and rs1333047 are the primary functional SNPs. Of the various SNPs in the region, <a href="https://genome.cshlp.org/content/22/9/1748.full">rs10757278 and rs1333047 are likely to affect the binding of transcription factors</a>  – proteins that bind to DNA and regulate the expression of genes. These two SNPs are perfectly correlated in people with European ancestry, and the G version of rs10757278 is associated with higher odds of coronary heart disease in people with European ancestry.
Another example is the SNP rs964184 located near the APOA5 gene, which has also been associated with cholesterol levels. The ENCODE data show that it likely affects binding of transcription factors and results in differences in expression of a &#8220;target&#8221; gene of those transcription factors. The G version of rs964184 is associated with higher odds of coronary heart disease in Europeans.
These examples highlight how this new data can inform the “why” and “how” of genetic associations. Where before scientists often had very little idea which exact SNP was involved and why it was associated with a disease, now we can narrow down the SNPs likely to be responsible and start looking at their biological impact. The ENCODE data show what Kolata describes as at least four million gene switches in our DNA that collectively control how the cells, organs and other tissues in our bodies develop and behave.
Though there’s still much to learn about this newly revealed and incredibly complex genetic circuitry, it’s clear that the data will be a resource for many scientists working in genetics including us here at 23andMe.

A Map of the Uncharted Genome

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Today 23andMe <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/press/fda_application/">announced</a> that we’ve submitted our first round of 510(k) documentation to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The application provides a detailed description of our Personal Genome Service ®, extensive data supporting the performance of our technology, and comprehensive discussions of the science supporting the information we present to customers about their genetics and its impact on health.
Not too long ago personal genomics was a new idea. Consumer personal genomics was even more novel &#8212; the idea that everyone, not just doctors and researchers or those with special health needs, could know what was in their DNA. What wasn’t new was the desire to improve our knowledge of what all that DNA means and for that knowledge to make a difference in people’s lives.
We started 23andMe six years ago with those goals in mind and since then more than 150,000 people have joined us to learn more about what&#8217;s in their bodies and to contribute to our innovative research platform. Already our growing research community has made discoveries in many diverse topics, including the photic sneeze reflex, male pattern baldness, and Parkinson’s disease.
As with anything new and potentially disruptive, there have also been concerns. The FDA responded to some of these concerns by indicating that direct-to-consumer genetic testing services require regulatory review to remain on the market. We remain strong in our belief that consumers have a fundamental right to their personal genetic data. We believe personal genetic data will power a revolution in healthcare. But we also recognize that appropriate oversight of this industry can be a stepping stone on the path to realizing that revolution.
For the last three years we have worked with FDA to apply their regulatory approach to direct-to-consumer genetic testing. It is important to us that a regulatory framework for genetic testing reflect the dynamic nature of genetic science and protect individual access. What we know about the genome changes every day. If we want our genetic information to be current, there needs to be a way for us to update that information quickly.
We are confident that our initial application to the FDA is complete and comprehensive. Being the first in the industry to announce we are actively working toward FDA clearance of our direct-to-consumer service demonstrates our commitment to make personal genetics an integral part of routine healthcare without sacrificing people’s right to access information about themselves. Our goal is to remain the world’s trusted source of genetic information &#8212; not just for people with a doctor’s order, but for everyone regardless of why or how they choose to learn about their DNA. DNA is fascinating, but it’s even more fascinating when it’s about you.

23andMe Takes First Step Toward FDA Clearance

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23andMe is passionate about making discoveries that will benefit you.
We give individuals access to their DNA data while in turn translating information they’ve volunteered into meaningful genetic discoveries.
Today we’re announcing the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/press/curetogether/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">acquisition of CureTogether, Inc. 
</a>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-14282" title="CT-logo" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/CT-logo-e1341895847805.jpg" width="150" height="37">
a company that we’ve admired for creating communities of people who can share information about their health conditions, support each other and together discover new insights in managing their health.
The acquisition – as well as the addition to our team of its two co-founders, Daniel Reda and Alexandra Carmichael &nbsp;– will improve our own ability to gather data for research and give customers more tools to explore and participate in online communities.
CureTogether’s core mission of enabling people to share their health information as a way to collectively gain new insight into various diseases is aligned with 23andMe’s own crowd-sourced research model. CureTogether, with more than 25,000 members, has gathered nearly four million data points on 576 different medical conditions. Welcoming in those users and the data they’ve contributed to research will improve the important work we are already doing.
At 23andMe, we’ve learned that the quality of our research communities – how engaged and active they are – is vital for quality research. 
Our research model has already made <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/press/sgk1/">significant breakthroughs</a> in the study of Parkinson’s disease, and we are heartened by the progress we’re making in<a href="https://www.23andme.com/sarcoma/"> Sarcoma</a> and in <a href="https://www.23andme.com/mpn/">Myeloproliferative Neoplasms.</a>
23andMe puts power in the hands of patients to participate in research and accelerate new discoveries. The more people who participate, and the more engaged they are, the more powerful the research.
In this, the CureTogether community is a model for our own 23andMe research community. We’re all trying to find cures. Together, we can make even more of a difference.

News — Page 25