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Proove Biosciences, which sold dubious DNA tests to predict addiction risk, sells off assets as CEO departs amid criminal probe

Proove Biosciences, which sold DNA tests to predict addiction risk, has been placed into receivership and its CEO has departed amid a criminal probe.

Proove Biosciences, a formerly high-flying genetic testing firm whose science and business practices have been challenged by experts and former employees, has been placed into court-ordered receivership for “restructuring and asset sale,” according to the company’s founder and former CEO.

Proove’s founder, Brian Meshkin, said in an interview on Thursday that he no longer works at Proove, which rang up $28 million in revenue last year. Meshkin blamed the company’s fall on investigative articles published by STAT last December and February. Those articles quoted experts that it could predict a patient’s likelihood of becoming addicted to opioids. “Hogwash” was the assessment of Dr. Mary Jeanne Kreek, a leading researcher on genetic links to addiction at Rockefeller University.

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