A phalanx of 27 states, alongside the District of Columbia, has initiated legal proceedings against the genetic testing firm 23andMe, seeking injunctive relief to preclude the unauthorized commodification of individuals' genomic data. This litigious démarche is predicated on concerns arising from a proposed acquisition by a biotechnology concern, targeting the financially beleaguered entity.

In a recent press release, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield posited that pertinent data—encompassing biospecimens, DNA profiles, health-related attributes, and medical records—ought not to be commodified absent explicit and fully informed consent from each individual; this pronouncement arrives amidst the well-documented financial precarity of 23andMe, established in 2006 as a purveyor of direct-to-consumer salivary DNA assays for ancestry tracing and familial consanguinity analysis, a company which, despite its initial public offering in 2021, has struggled to achieve sustainable profitability, culminating in a March restructuring involving a 40% workforce reduction and the filing of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, poised to acquire 23andMe for USD 256 million, has pledged adherence to 23andMe's extant privacy policies and all applicable legal statutes, with an independent consumer privacy ombudsman designated to scrutinize the proposed divestiture and its potential ramifications for consumer data sovereignty.