DNA testing kit provider 23andMe is cutting staff on declining sales, and pointing to privacy concerns as a possible reason for the downturn.
The company is laying off about 100 employees or 14 percent of its total workforce.
"We are tightening focus on our two core business—the consumer product and our therapeutic efforts—and scaling back areas not core to those businesses," said a company spokesman, who added the restructuring was company-wide.
Consumer worries about their DNA ending up in the wrong hands may be a factor in the sales slump, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki told CNBC on Thursday.
In recent months, media reports about law enforcement using data from DNA testing companies to identify suspects in crimes have underscored how the test results—often thought to be private—can be used in a ways the consumer never imagined.
In 2018, 23andMe itself highlighted the issue when it entered into a four-year deal with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to use its genetic testing data to develop new drugs.
Consumers who agreed to 23andMe's scientific research opt-in clause would have their test results looped into the agreement.
Although the GlaxoSmithKline partnership is intended to advance healthcare for all, the deal also attracted scrutiny from privacy critics over concerns the same genetic information could be misused or leaked.
However, 23andMe maintains the company is using strong protections to keep customers' data secure.
Recommended by Our Editors
"I want to jump in and really own it," Wojcicki told CNBC about communication regarding 23andMe's privacy standards.
