More than 200 23andMe employees are being laid off as part of the company's ongoing cost-cutting measures. The layoffs will affect 40 percent of the genetic testing company's workforce.
23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki said in that staff reduction would save the beleaguered company more than $35 million. He called the layoffs “difficult but necessary actions as we restructure 23andMe and focus on the long-term success of our core research partnerships and consumer businesses.”
The company also announced that it will begin to close its therapeutic clinical programs that used its genetic database to research and develop new drugs. The therapeutics division housed two “immuno-oncology programs” that investigated therapeutic antibodies “designed to restore the ability of the body's immune cells to destroy cancer cells,” according to .
The San Francisco-based company hasn't had an easy year. in April last year and leaked information of 6.9 million customers. The data breach went unnoticed for a year and a half, leading to a class-action lawsuit and the resignation of the company's entire board of directors.
