(LifeSiteNews) — A Big Pharma company will acquire genetic data on 15 million people after purchasing DNA testing company 23andMe in a bankruptcy auction.
“Drugmaker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will buy genetic testing firm 23andMe for $256 million through a bankruptcy auction,” CNN reported.
“Regeneron said it will comply with 23andMe’s privacy policies and applicable laws with respect to the use of customer data and that it is ready to detail its intended use of the data to a court-appointed overseer,” the news outlet reported.
23andMe already suffered a privacy breach of its sensitive genetic information.
While Regeneron said it will protect data, many people may still have concerns.
Users wishing to delete their genetic data can do so, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who issued a “consumer alert” when 23andMe first filed for bankruptcy in March. He explained how people can log into their account and delete their data.
While Regeneron said it will protect data, it has not always acted in the most ethical manner. The company, which created a COVID antibody treatment, tested it on the same fetal cell line used by COVID-19 vaccine makers.
As previously reported by LifeSiteNews:
To test the antibodies, Regeneron used “immortalized epithelial cells” originally derived from the kidney of an unborn baby girl likely aborted at around 12 weeks in the Netherlands. Vaccine makers Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca used the same cell line, known as HEK (human embryonic kidney) 293, to test their COVID-19 shots. Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine used a fetal cell line titled PER.C6, taken from another aborted Dutch baby.
The unethical testing mechanism could raise concerns about how what Regeneron considers ethical or not.
