23andMe and GSK Start Clinical Trial

23andMe has been collaborating with GlaskoSmithKline (GSK) for two years (as of July of 2020). The goal of the collaboration is to drive the discovery of novel, genetically validated drug targets to bring new transformational medicine to patients. Studies show that treatments that have been validated with genetic data are twice as likely to succeed when compared to traditional approaches.

In a significant milestone for the collaboration, GSK and 23andMe have advanced the first joint asset to the clinic, a potential first-in-class cancer treatment that was discovered by GSK and being co-developed by the two companies. GSK and 23andMe were working on similar programs independently prior to the collaboration. GSK’s was chosen to advance to the clinic.

The axis was genetically validated by 23andMe using a proprietary algorithm that compares potential drug targets to a unique data set from the 23andMe research platform. This data set comprises detailed genetic information integrated with thousands of phenotypes (non-genetic information) to help uncover genetic patterns, enabling scientists from 23andMe and from GSK to identify potential therapeutic candidates.

The benefit of this exclusive collaboration goes well beyond the programs. The collaboration is bringing together great science, new technology, and outstanding people to steer research where the data shows we can have the most impact. 23andMe brings large-scale genetic resources, antibody and protein engineering, and substantial biology experience and with its 300-year history, GSK provides tremendous expertise and resources to turn new ideas into new medicines and vaccines.

Data studied as part of the collaboration — and for all 23andMe research — is contributed by customers who explicitly opt-in to a separate research consent. 23andMe scientists study the data in-house and share summary statistics, stripped of any personal information. Collaborating with GSK allows 23andMe to much more quickly deliver on what many customers have been asking for — better treatments for diseases where current therapies are inadequate today.

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