--- title: 23andMe's GlaxoSmithKline Partership Raises Privacy Concerns description: 23andMe is partnering with big pharma company GlaxoSmithKline. Here's what that means for consumer rights and genetic privacy. canonical: https://time.com/5349896/23andme-glaxo-smith-kline/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-26T19:47:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:17.200Z article:section: Health og:title: A Major Drug Company Now Has Access to 23andMe’s Genetic Data. Should You Be Concerned? og:description: Should consumers be concerned? og:url: https://time.com/5349896/23andme-glaxo-smith-kline/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4709e0c44efdb98e/6989366797cdfff0e96b5d84/23-and-me.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5556 og:image:height: 3125 og:image:alt: 23-and-me og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Major Drug Company Now Has Access to 23andMe’s Genetic Data. Should You Be Concerned? twitter:description: Should consumers be concerned? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4709e0c44efdb98e/6989366797cdfff0e96b5d84/23-and-me.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Major Drug Company Now Has Access to 23andMe’s Genetic Data. Should You Be Concerned? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=7735c848-7302-4859-bf91-abb6ab295178&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Arrest of the Golden State Killer Puts DNA Sites in the Spotlight [Watch (HLS stream): The Arrest of the Golden State Killer Puts DNA Sites in the Spotlight](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8fByNgdk.m3u8) (3:28)  _Published 2018-05-09. Description - Time explores DNA privacy, and what is at stake._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 26, 2018 7:47 PM UTC  Photo courtesy of 23andMe  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 26, 2018 7:47 PM UTC Consumer genetic testing company 23andMe [announced on Wednesday](https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/press-releases/gsk-and-23andme-sign-agreement-to-leverage-genetic-insights-for-the-development-of-novel-medicines/) that GlaxoSmithKline purchased a $300 million stake in the company, allowing the pharmaceutical giant to use 23andMe’s trove of genetic data to develop new drugs — and raising new privacy concerns for consumers. The “collaboration” is a way to make “novel treatments and cures a reality,” [23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki](https://blog.23andme.com/news/a-note-on-23andmes-new-collaboration-with-gsk/) said in a company blog post. But, though [it isn’t 23andMe’s first foray into drug discovery](http://time.com/3660174/23andme-big-pharma/), the deal doesn’t seem quite so simple to some medical experts — or some of the roughly 5 million 23andMe customers who have sent off tubes of their spit in exchange for ancestry and health insights. Perhaps the most obvious issue is privacy, says Peter Pitts, president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, a non-partisan non-profit that aims to promote patient-centered health care. “If people are concerned about their social security numbers being stolen, they should be concerned about their genetic information being misused,” Pitts says. “This information is never 100% safe. The risk is magnified when one organization shares it with a second organization. When information moves from one place to another, there’s always a chance for it to be intercepted by unintended third parties.” That risk is real, agrees Dr. Arthur Caplan, head of the division of medical ethics at the New York University School of Medicine. Caplan says that any genetic privacy concerns also extend to your blood relatives, who likely did not consent to having their DNA tested — echoing some of [the questions](http://time.com/5257474/golden-state-killer-genetic-privacy-concerns/) that arose after law enforcement officials used a [genealogy website to find and arrest the suspected Golden State Killer](http://time.com/5256835/how-did-golden-state-killer-genealogy-websites-online-dna-police/) in April. But in Caplan’s view, the deal raises some even larger questions: namely whether customers really knew what they were signing up for when they spit into those tubes. “A lot of people paid money to 23andMe to get their ancestry determined — fun, recreational stuff,” Caplan says. “Even though they may have signed a thing saying, ‘I’m okay if you use this information for medical research,’ I’m not sure they understood what that really meant. I’m not sure they understood that it meant, ‘Yes, we’ll go to Glaxo, and that’s where we’re really going to make a lot of money off of you.'” A 23andMe spokesperson told TIME that data privacy is a “top priority” for the company, emphasizing that customer data isn’t used in research without consent, and that GlaxoSmithKline will only receive “summary statistics from analyses 23andMe conducts so that no single individual can be identified.” “When a 23andMe customer consents to participate in research, we clearly state that their de-identified data may be used to identify potential areas or targets for therapeutics development and to conduct or support the development of drugs, diagnostics or devices and may be done so in collaboration with third parties,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Participating in 23andMe research is always voluntary and requires customers to affirmatively consent to participate. They can also choose to opt-out of our research at any time.” A representative from GlaxoSmithKline did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for comment. Still, Caplan says 23andMe’s consent agreement should more comprehensively detail exactly how genetic material could be used in the future, as well as by whom. He points to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) [All of Us project](https://allofus.nih.gov/) — which aims to collect data from at least a million Americans in an effort to further medical research and discovery — as a better example of informed consent, because it [clearly explains](https://www.joinallofus.org/en/faq) how, when and where individuals’ data will be used. And while the public does stand to gain from new drugs that may be developed as a result of either project, Caplan says All of Us may also be better positioned to make impactful change, since it recruits volunteers from all subsets of the U.S. population and allows them to contribute for free. By contrast, if GlaxoSmithKline uses data from 23andMe customers — who, presumably, could afford to pay at least $69 for a test kit — it will likely result in a non-nationally-representative research sample, which could in turn limit the widespread relevance of its findings. “The database will be skewed toward middle and upper class people. I don’t think you’re going to have very big samples in there from very poor neighborhoods or Native American reservations,” Caplan says. “It kind of reinforces the issue about, who’s going to get the benefits of mapping the genome?” To combat that, Caplan says 23andMe should consider giving back to its customers, or the general public, in some way. “I could see a duty to try to make things subsidized for poorer people to try and control prices, because it’s built on the backs, the data, of millions of Americans,” Caplan says. “You’re not going to be able to pay them one by one, but there is some obligation to…find ways to return some of the benefits to people.” Pitts believes 23andMe owes its customers even more. “The information that 23andMe is giving to GlaxoSmithKline isn’t out of the goodness of the hearts of 23andMe for the public good. They’re making money on this deal,” Pitts says. “If your data is going to be used for commercial purposes, you should be compensated for that. At minimum, you should be refunded any money you paid to 23andMe to have your genetic test done in the first place.” (The company’s current policy, as [detailed on its website](https://www.23andme.com/about/tos/), specifies that individuals “acquire no rights in any research or commercial products that may be developed by 23andMe or its collaborating partners.”) Perhaps the bigger question, Caplan says, is whether you should pay 23andMe to have your DNA tested in the first place. He notes that [the company has had some accuracy issues in the past](http://time.com/4080583/23andme-dna-genetic-testing/) and says the [insights any individual can glean](http://time.com/5189939/genetic-testing-breast-cancer/) from direct-to-consumer genetic tests are limited at this point. “I’ve never done it, and I don’t tell others to do it,” Caplan says. Now, “knowing they’re going to give the information to a big pharma company for research, I’d rather do my DNA testing with the NIH project.” ## Transcript Oh. When it comes to keeping tabs on your personal info in this digital arraf here's yeah could be more public than you realize. He April 25 arrest of the Golden State killer the predator responsible for a string of rapes and homicides in the seventies and eighties. Has any sites in the spotlight. Now before finding the alleged Golden State killer investigators first found his great great. Great grandparents. And DNA evidence preserved from the scene of the crime. And that's small independent genealogy site called jet match. One Portman didn't directly approached the genealogy site about the case. In fact they were able to use FB profile using posing as a user researching their family history up on the killer's DNA information. We're immaculate me to the predators and distant relatives from the 18100. And while the site's privacy policies that users should provide their real names for registration. Judge Matsch's policy informed users that they're seeing that could be mined for other purposes. Clearly genealogy sites aren't just for personal family trip pursuits. Don't have to keep track of who has access to your genetic and about and what exactly does speak. Just click your Social Security number your genetic information could be easily abused. Not only that your genes reveal sensitive information about people here believe it to tear. Judge Matsch has almost one million users who voluntarily shared their genetic in battle making it accessible to anyone uploading their own data. Including a law enforcement. More than a dozen similar platforms exist. While other sites may have more stringent policies. Like Ancestry. Com. Or 23 and me you're still giving companies access to revealing information about your health. The only history and relatives. Even if you haven't participated. If relatives have shared there's a live and your part of me online gambling treat you can be tracked down through their DNA and the only history records. The consumer DNA testing trend doesn't look like it's slowing down. The market has valued at seventy million dollars and when he fifteen. Estimates expected to be worth 340. Million dollars by 22 when he TO. In fact Ancestry. Com sold one point five million DNA test kits on Black Friday 2017. Alone. But while these sites have led to the arrest of the alleged Golden State killer. It isn't people have also been wrongly accused based on information pieced together from DNA databases. And accessed poses serious questions around user privacy and rights while the T doesn't any genetic information nondiscrimination act protects consumers from employment. End insurance discrimination related to genetics the law offers no protection for life insurance. Disability insurance long term care insurance or even military service. You wouldn't hand out your Social Security number without having a good idea how was being used right. The treat your DNA with the same level of sensitivity and read the fine print to understand how your genetic material can be used. Or miss used on these sites. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5349896/23andme-glaxo-smith-kline/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5349896/23andme-glaxo-smith-kline/"},"headline":"A Major Drug Company Now Has Access to 23andMe’s Genetic Data. 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