23andMe licenses its first home-grown drug

A few years back, 23andMe announced it had enter the biopharma space — plumbing its own user data repositories for clues on what might make powerful new drug targets. The Silicon Valley firm is making good on that plan — having just licensed out an inflammatory disease-targeting antibody it developed to Spain-based drugmaker Almirall SA. 

23andMe penned a deal in 2018 with GlaxoSmithKline, in which the pharma giant gained a $300 million stake in the consumer genetics company in order to share data and collaborate on drug development. But this is the first time 23andMe has licensed a compound it created in-house. 

“This is a seminal moment for 23andMe,” the company told Bloomberg. “We’ve now gone from database to discovery to developing a drug.”