I didn't want to take one of the existing Questions about 23andMe, the data privacy battle they're now fighting (that's also bled over to impact at least MyHeritage), and the 23andMe suspension of some of its comparison and matching features off onto a tangent, so I decided to start a new thread about the company's newest offering, announced late yesterday evening in the U.S., after close of stock market trading.
This is a direction I was expecting 23andMe to go very shortly after they went public in June 2021. Why it's taken over two years I'm not certain and, frankly, the consumer cost and the overall process seems as if it will be unattractive to most. At least, there's no appeal there for people primarily interested in genealogy, and the new service won't provide any new features or benefits for genealogists.
Too, even if they were prepared to introduce the new offering now, is now really the right time to do it amidst the constant barrage of negative news and multiple lawsuits filed regarding the data privacy incident? It's only been a few days since they decided to, at least temporarily, disable all display of chromosomal detail in light of the security concerns.
Nevertheless, introduced about 12 hours ago is: "A Totally New 23andMe Health Membership: Total Health," which launches for sale starting in early November: https://blog.23andme.com/articles/total-health.
"Total Health is designed to be a comprehensive, prevention-based membership, combining clinical grade exome sequencing, biannual blood testing, and unprecedented access to clinicians trained in genetics. Total Health will also include all the reports and features offered in our existing 23andMe+ Membership in addition to these new services."
The genetic underpinning of the service is whole exome sequencing. The exome is spread around the genome and is the portion of your DNA that contains coding genes and some supporting elements. It is essentially useless to genealogy because most humans are identical here with the few exceptions regarding phenotype, things that affect structure and appearance like skin color, whether your second toe is longer than your big toe, etc. The exome is relatively small in relation to your whole genome, a bit over 30 million base pairs out of your roughly 3.08 billion, or a little less than 2%.
"Total Health will be available for those 18 and older in the United States (excluding Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Rhode Island). The 23andMe+ Total Health membership will cost $99 per month, billed in a one-time annual payment. It will be available to new customers in early November, and offered to existing 23andMe customers in the spring of 2024."
I suppose saying it costs $99 monthly, paid annually, makes it sound less expensive than $1,188 per year. The twice-per-year blood testing will be "initiated" by a 23andMe clinician "and members will complete their testing through a local lab offered by a third-party provider."
Clinical grade (30X coverage and higher) whole genome sequencing (WGS) is now routinely available to consumers for under $300. If 23andMe had to take the time and spend money gearing up their labs for whole exome sequencing (WES), I'm uncertain why they didn't come out with a WGS option, instead. The exome is in there and its data can be extracted so that it can be worked with separately, and the sequencing equipment and processes--at least with Illumina products, which 23andMe use--are the essentially the same. There is no benefit other than clinical/medical to WES, but I've been waiting over four years for some testing company to start opening the doors afforded by WGS. That can lead down the direction 23andMe just announced, but at very close to the same operating cost per test it can also massively increase their reference datasets for genealogical/population genomics and present options for expanding the reporting and comparison services for ancestral and relationship purposes. Whole Exome Sequencing starts and stops with its clinical/medical value.
I wish them luck with it. After all, I still own some stock in the company that I bought shortly after they went public in June 2021 and have sat on because, since November 2021, the price has never again approached that level. It closed yesterday at 77 cents per share.
