23andMe Cuts Back Drug Research, Moves to Weight Loss

  • Company to launch telehealth weight-loss program in August
  • First-quarter revenue of $40 million was well below estimates

Anne Wojcicki

Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg
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23andMe Holding Co.’s strategy is shifting as the struggling DNA-testing firm shuts down its in-house drug development effort and gets into weight-loss, one of the hottest markets in health care.

The Silicon Valley firm plans to launch a telehealth membership program by the end of the month for people trying to shed pounds, it said in a release Thursday. Users will be able to get brand name or compounded forms of semaglutide, the active ingredient in the blockbuster drugs from Novo Nordisk A/S, it said.