Who’s monetising your DNA?

2019-02-27

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Should the collection of vast genetic databases be dominated by private companies such as 23andMe or Ancestry.com?In the second of two programmes looking at the businesses riding high on the boom in home DNA testing kits, Manuela Saragosa looks at how the enormous head start these companies have over public sector DNA research initiatives may be skewing medical research. Will the profit motive drive these companies to wall off their databases, and give access only to pharmaceutical companies capable...

Should the collection of vast genetic databases be dominated by private companies such as 23andMe or Ancestry.com?

In the second of two programmes looking at the businesses riding high on the boom in home DNA testing kits, Manuela Saragosa looks at how the enormous head start these companies have over public sector DNA research initiatives may be skewing medical research.

Will the profit motive drive these companies to wall off their databases, and give access only to pharmaceutical companies capable of developing lucrative new drugs that mainly benefit the predominately wealthy, white customers who send in their DNA samples in the first place?

The programme features interviews with Kathy Hibbs of 23andMe, Mark Caulfield of Genomics England, and Kayte Spector-Bagdady of the University of Michigan Medical School.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Woman's cheek being swabbed; Credit: AndreyPopov/Getty Images)

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