{"id":5398,"date":"2017-04-05T23:59:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T03:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/23andme-and-my-likelihood-of-going-bald\/"},"modified":"2017-04-06T01:02:47","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T05:02:47","slug":"23andme-and-my-likelihood-of-going-bald","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/23andme-and-my-likelihood-of-going-bald\/","title":{"rendered":"23andMe\u2026 and my likelihood of going bald"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>23andMe is a personal genetics company that offers two forms of genotype\u00a0analysis to consumers: Ancestry ($99) and Ancestry + Health ($199) . Consumers simply spit in a vial, mail it to 23andMe for analysis, and receive detailed reports\u00a0on Ancestry, Carrier Status, Wellness and Traits.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to providing this consumer service,\u00a023andMe also takes\u00a0the data they receive from consumer genotype\u00a0analyses and combine it with user-reported phenotype\u00a0data (from over 80% of its consumers!) to create and capture value\u00a0with partner research organizations. Analysis of the\u00a0more-than 320 million phenotype:genotype data points, has led to\u00a045 peer-reviewed studies in scientific journals, and\u00a0better understanding of &#8230; balding.<\/p>\n<p>Last month,\u00a0the 23andMe research team announced findings from their collaboration\u00a0with the University of Bonn, where they identified\u00a063 genetic variants associated with balding, 22 of which were novel. This study of 17,000 23andMe customers both helped advance the understanding of the biological mechanisms behind male pattern baldness and the health conditions associated with it. One particularly lucrative value creating result is the identification of potential drug targets for pharmaceutical companies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">https:\/\/blog.23andme.com\/23andme-research\/the-role-of-genetics-in-male-pattern-baldness\/<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, this data analysis differs from its competitors in the pharmaceutical industry by flipping the drug discovery process on its head. Instead of screening millions of drugs against various targets in a shotgun style approach, the 23andMe model uses its vast database to look\u00a0directly at statistically significant associations of genotype and phenotype pairs to zero-in on potential targets before recommending\u00a0any actual drug screening for any\u00a0condition. Additionally, a secondary outcome is identifying novel drug targets for associated conditions<em>\u00a0<\/em>and subsequently being able to repurpose existing drugs for new conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Precisely how much\u00a023andMe captures this value is non-public information, but it is clearly significant. Largely through the development and progress of their &#8220;therapeutics&#8221; research organization, 23andMe was able to attract venture capital\u00a0investment at a unicorn valuation ($1.1B in Oct 2016).<\/p>\n<p>23andMe started out as a pure consumer play amassing over 1 million customers of its consumer products. Realizing the value of their data, the team shifted toward their current research and analytics focus. The primary challenges they have faced along the way include growing the consumer business through marketing, developing a reliable\u00a0user-reported phenotype dataset through clever user experience design, and gaining the requisite\u00a0trust for effective research partnerships with academic and private institutions&#8230; all while <a href=\"http:\/\/gizmodo.com\/23andme-is-back-in-the-genetic-testing-business-with-fd-1737917276\">keeping the FDA happy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While this is indeed exciting and potentially promising value creation, the sustainability of 23andMe\u00a0model is uncertain\u00a0for two main reasons. First, it will be a long and difficult road to <em>actually\u00a0<\/em><em>prove<\/em> 23andMe\u00a0can succeed in helping to bring a new, impactful\u00a0drug to market. In the\u00a012 years, give or take, that it takes for a drug to make\u00a0it through FDA clinical trials, both belief\u00a0(and funding) from pharmaceutical partners could easily run out.\u00a0Second, as the cost of genetic sequencing plummets, market-leading\u00a0<em>full-genome sequencers<\/em> like Illumina could offer similar services\u00a0at comparable prices with data at\u00a0a much higher genetic resolution. Technically, 23andMe only analyzes genotype\u00a0data from\u00a0less than 1% of the genome through a carefully selected and much simpler diagnostic assay.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, there is (distant) hope for the bald.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.23andme.com\/stories\/<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/unicorn-leaderboard\/<\/p>\n<p>http:\/\/gizmodo.com\/23andme-is-back-in-the-genetic-testing-business-with-fd-1737917276<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/matthewherper\/2017\/01\/09\/illumina-promises-to-sequence-human-genome-for-100-but-not-quite-yet\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>23andMe pairs its database of genotypes with user-reported phenotypes to uncover new targets for drug discovery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":443,"featured_media":5399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[1426,926,1425],"class_list":["post-5398","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baldness","category-genetics","category-phenotype"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/data-and-analytics-as-digital-assets\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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