San Diego, CA: Genealogy and health testing startup 23andMe is facing a consumer fraud class action lawsuit alleging the company engages in false and misleading advertising related to the results from its Saliva Kit and Personal Genome Service (PGS) results. Specifically, the lawsuit claims that the defendants' Saliva and PGS results are advertised as providing reports on 240 plus conditions and traits, drug response, carrier status and other things, when there is no analytical or clinical validation for the PGS advertised uses.
Founded in 2006 by Anne Wojcicki , 23andMe is a health and ancestry DNA company. For $99, the customer receives a spit kit used to provide 23andMe with a saliva sample. Once analyzed, the defendants return to the customer the results of the DNA tests, that allegedly provide a glimpse at that customer' ancestry and inform the customer as to whether or not he or she is prone to certain diseases.
The lawsuit, filed by Lisa Casey, on behalf of herself and other similarly situated, also claims the defendants used information gathered from the customers to generate databases and statistical information which it then markets to other sources in the scientific community, even though the test results are meaningless.
