Regeneron’s $256M 23andMe Buy: 15M Genomes & R&D Benefits

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has agreed to acquire almost all of 23andMe’s business lines, which includes its world-leading consumer biobank being sold for US $256 million. The transaction, reached via a bankruptcy auction, awaits court and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in Q3 2025.  

What Happened to 23andMe?

23andMe was once a direct-to-consumer genomics giant valued at nearly US $6 billion. Two events built that mammoth valuation:

• Data-Breach Fallout  in 2023. Hackers exposed partial profiles of ~7 million customers, eroding trust and triggering a US $30 million settlement.  
• Post-pandemic, consumer DNA-testing sales cooled sharply, leaving the company over-leveraged and eventually leading to a Chapter 11 filing in March 2025.  

The bankruptcy auction included the Personal Genome Service, Total Health platform, and a >15 million-sample biobank, one of the largest privately held genotype-phenotype datasets in the world. 

Why Did Regeneron Buy 23andMe?

1  Instant Genomic Scale

• 15-million–sample biobank – multiple news outlets reporting on the deal confirm that 23andMe’s database includes “genetic data of more than 15 million customers.”  
• Plug-in to Regeneron’s Veloci-Gene® engine –  Regeneron’s own technology pages describe Veloci-Gene® as a core platform that pairs large-scale human genetics with rapid in-vivo target validation.  

2  Defensive IP & Talent

• The GlobeNewswire press-release announcing the transaction states that 23andMe “will be operated as a wholly owned … subsidiary of Regeneron” and that Regeneron will “welcome [23andMe’s] talented team.”  Keeping the platform, consents and scientists in-house prevents competitors from accessing the same insights.  (Global Newswire, 2025)

3  Direct-to-Patient Channel

• Regeneron has publicly committed to let 23andMe “continue all consumer genome services uninterrupted,” thereby preserving the DTC relationship and survey infrastructure that feed real-world data back into research.  (Global Newswire, 2025)
• Separate Regeneron commentary on its use of real-world evidence (RWE) shows how the company already leverages patient-level data to design clinical trials, an approach that a live consumer channel can enhance.  (Global Newswire, 2025)

Expert Perspective – Dr Alex Zhavoronkov, Insilico Medicine

“ That is $17 per account and $21.3 per research-ready genome with huge amount of metadata. 23andMe data set is a bit more toxic and I am sure that they also allocated some serious budget to lawsuits. And they will likely face a super dilemma – ‘should we allow people to delete their records? and if yes, how easy we will make it?’..”

— LinkedIn post, 20 May 2025

Key takeaways from Dr Zhavoronkov’s analysis:

• Cost Benchmarking: Regeneron paid roughly 4× 23andMe’s last private-market valuation but still less (per genome) than Amgen’s $415 M acquisition of deCODE.
• Privacy & Compliance Risk: Europe’s GDPR “right to be forgotten” may force costly data-management workflows.
• Metabolic Disease Upside: He sees the dataset as “most useful for metabolic disease research helping find or validate the next GLP-1 for your muscle.”