It may also be in the hands of hackers. Either way, your DNA could be used against you.

GlaxoSmithKline Extends Data Mining Contract With 23andMe

As reported by Bloomberg,1 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will pay 23andMe $20 million to extend its five-year contract to mine the company's consumer DNA data for another year:

"The idea for drugmakers is to comb the data for hints about genetic pathways that might be at the root of disease, which could significantly speed up the long, slow process of drug development.

GSK and 23andMe have already taken one potential medication to clinical trials: a cancer drug that works to block CD96, a protein that helps modulate the body's immune responses.

It entered that testing phase in four years, compared to an industry average of about seven years. Overall, the partnership between GSK and 23andMe has produced more than 50 new drug targets …

The new agreement changes some components of the collaboration. Any discoveries GSK makes with the 23andMe data will now be solely owned by the British pharmaceutical giant, while the genetic-testing company will be eligible for royalties on some projects. In the past, the two companies pursued new drug targets jointly."

In case this wasn't obvious, YOU pay to have your DNA tested, and then 23andMe sells the mining rights of those data, and makes royalties on new drugs. Quite the profit model, having customers pay for their own exploitation. And GSK isn't the only drug company mining your data. The deal is nonexclusive, so any number of other companies may be mining your genetic data as well.