April 15 (Reuters) – On Monday, an American House Committee asked the co -founder of 23andme to testify next month as it began investigating the risk of genetic data to be transferred to potential buyers to potential buyers amid the bankruptcy of the DNA testing company.
James Cummer, Chairman of the House Committee, on a Republican and Oversite and Government Reforms of Kentki, sent a letter to Anne Wojikki of 23andme, with his testimony on May 6 as well as documents and information from the genomics firm along with his testimony.
The genomics firm filed for bankruptcy protection last month, which was last month after struggling with the weak demand of its offspring test kit.
Wojcicki made several unsuccessful acquisition bid for the company and resigned as its CEO in March. He is still a board member of the company.
The bankruptcy filing has expressed concern about where it will go to the genetic data collected. The company has said that the bankruptcy process will not affect how this customer stores, manage or protects data.
The 23andme collects salivary samples to provide insight into the lineage and health risks.
Data was concerned over more than 15 million customers of 23andme, if not adequately preserved, it can be accessed by countries like China, or used to assess high insurance premiums between other purposes, Comer said.
“We need to ensure the security of Americans’ data,” the Commerce said in the letter.
The company was also a target of a hack in 2023, when personal data of about 7 million customers was exposed in five months.
The company has made at least 30 deals with pharmaceutical companies like GSK, which has reached its database. Most of its agreements are unknown.
23andme said that in March any buyer would need to follow the applicable laws of how customer data is treated.
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatol; Editing by Leroy Leo)