DNA testing company vanishes, as does customers' data

Customers have found themselves unable to access reports on their DNA, and refunds, after a genetic testing firm ceased trading. 

The genetic testing company offered microbiome and DNA tests, including offering reports on predisposition to certain diseases based on DNA profiles taken from a saliva sample sent to them by the customer. Nobody knows what has happened to the genetic data held by Atlas Biomed, a company which is listed as active in the UK, but has not filed any accounts since December 2022, Companies House records show.

The regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), has confirmed it received a complaint about Atlas Biomed: 'People have the right to expect that organisations will handle their personal information securely and responsibly,' it said in a statement, the BBC reported.

Four of the company's initial eight listed officers have resigned, and two of the remaining officers and one prior officer, a Russian pharmaceutical billionaire, are registered at an address in Moscow, Russia, an investigation by the BBC has shown. 

Atlas Biomed is registered to a building in London, overseen by a company registration firm, who would not put the BBC in contact with Atlas Biomed 'for security purposes', it reported. It has not succeeded in getting a comment from the company. 

One customer reported that they paid £100 for a personalised genetic report years ago, only to discover they were unable to access their reports when the website disappeared. Another customer paid £139 for a report it failed to deliver and then failed to refund.

Other customers with similar stories have taken to the company's Facebook and Instagram posts, which were last posted on by the company in June 2023 and March 2022 respectively. 

Kate Lake from Tonbridge, Kent was unable to get a refund after Atlas Biomed failed to deliver her report. She told the BBC she had tried to get hold of the company a number of times: 'I just never heard back from anyone, it's like no-one was at home... What happens now to that information they have got? I would like to hear some answers,' she said.

Dr Carissa Véliz, associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute for Ethics in AI a the University of Oxford told the BBC that biometric data is given special protection under the UK's data protection law.

'When you give your data to a company you are completely at their mercy and you have to be able to trust them,' she said. 'We shouldn't have to wait until something happens.'