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faced skeptics who viewed her company as little more than
a parlor trick.
Now that she has moved on from her marriage and
proved beyond all doubt that 23andMe is a serious com-
pany, Wojcicki finds herself at a turning point once again,
both personally and in her business. She’s been quietly pre-
paring to welcome her third child—this time as a single par-
ent. “Whether you’re in a relationship or not should not dic-
tate whether or not you have the ability to have children,”
Wojcicki says. “I’m very stubborn. When there’s something
I want to do, I get it done. I really wanted a third child. So
like, guess what? I executed,” she adds with a laugh.
And while it might make interesting cocktail conversa-
tion to reveal that you are 5% Scandinavian and have a
genetic disposition to sneeze in the sun, 23andMe’s am-
bitions are much grander. Wojcicki wants to leverage the
exponentially plunging costs of genetic sequencing (down
99% in a decade) and 23andMe’s massive DNA library (the
world’s largest genetic research database) to fuel a “biotech
machine” that will not just indicate genetic predisposi-
tions to certain diseases but also help create the drugs that
will treat those diseases. The brilliance is that, if all goes
as planned, 23andMe gets paid on both ends. Customers
pay to find out about their heritage and then the company
uses that genetic data to one day profit from potential new
medicines. Eighty percent of 23andMe’s customers consent
to allow their DNA to be used for biomedical research.
“I thought it was genius actually, that people were paying
us to build the database,” says Richard Scheller, 23andMe’s
chief scientist. “People want their data to be used and to
help scientific discoveries.”
23andMe’s latest chapter started with an in-house drug
discovery group in 2015. But pharma development is noto-
riously hard—86% of new drugs fail in clinical trials—and
expensive. The average cost of developing a medicine in the
U.S. is about $2.6 billion. So, in July of last year, Wojcicki
inked a deal with U.K.-based giant GSK (formerly called
GlaxoSmithKline; 2018 sales: $31 billion), which invested
$300 million in 23andMe and signed a four-year exclusive
partnership to identify new drug targets. 23andMe will
have to share drug-development costs, but it will also share
in any profits.
Another potential growth area for 23andMe is a deeper
and more personalized approach to health. Wojcicki wants
to coach consumers based
on their genes, giving them
greater control over their
health. That could mean
more partnerships like
the one it has with fellow
Mountain View startup Lark
Health, which lets 23andMe
customers sign up for diabe-
tes counseling. Or it could
mean that 23andMe’s own
AI-powered app will remind
you to drink more water or
to choose a lunch entrée
with tomatoes, which some
research touts as helping to
deter the onset of Parkin-
son’s. Wojcicki isn’t sharing
details just yet about the
coaching.
It won’t be an easy task.
There’s no clinical evidence
that people who’ve learned
through genetic testing that
they have a high genetic risk
for a specific disease dra-
matically change their lifestyle to lower that risk. Or change
their lifestyle at all. In fact, there is plenty of evidence, both
scientific and anecdotal, to the contrary. Humans find hab-
its hard to break. Wojcicki’s own staff take the elevator
when she’s out of sight.
But it’s a gamble she’s willing to take. “The medical world
has kind of given up on your potential to ever be healthier,”
she says. “I think that’s really sad.”
ojcicki herself was almost forced to give
up six years ago. In November of 2013, she
was busy adapting to a rapidly evolving life.
Her husband had reportedly moved out.
She was mother to two young children and
still the CEO of a startup. Then, days before Thanksgiving,
her phone buzzed with a text: A courier from the FDA had
a package for her. “Don’t sign for it!” Wojcicki fired back to
her assistant.
It was too late. The FDA notice ordered her company to
immediately stop marketing its health tests because it had
Saliva Sensation: Cofounder Linda Avey, Wendi Deng Murdoch, Diane von Furstenberg and Anne Wojcicki
at a 2008 spit party held in Manhattan.
W