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The consumer-genetics testing company 23andMe, based in Mountain View, California, announced its first patent this week, and some of its customers aren’t happy. The company offers a US$299 service in which a customer can mail in a saliva sample for genetic analysis. Individuals can then log on to the company’s website to learn how their genetic variants relate to ancestry and disease. The company uses data from consenting customers to find genetic variants associated with disease and other traits.
According to a blog post by 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki, the patent “relates to our discovery of a variant in the SGK1 gene that may be protective against Parkinson’s disease in individuals who carry the rare risk-associated LRRK2 G2019S mutation.” It acknowledges that patenting genetic mutations is controversial, but says that the patent will be important if other companies want to pursue drug development.
Wojcicki wrote that the company intends to file more patents, the better to “move from the realm of academic publishing to the world of impacting lives by preventing, treating or curing disease”.
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