Bankrupt genetic testing company 23andMe told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday that it plans to reopen the bidding process for its assets after receiving a $305 million bid from founder Anne Wojcicki, which is higher than the previous winning bidder.

23andMe originally selected the $256 million bid from biotech company Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) as the highest bid after the bankruptcy auction was completed in May and was ready to sell its assets to the company.

However, the company later received an offer from Wojcicki's newly established nonprofit TTAM Institute and confirmed that the institute had sufficient funds, so it asked bankruptcy judge Brian Walsh in St. Louis, Missouri, to allow it to reopen negotiations with potential buyers.

Emil Kleinhaus, an attorney representing Regeneron, said that if TTAM wins in the end, Regeneron hopes to receive a $10 million breakup fee. He stressed that Regeneron still intends to acquire 23andMe, but believes that the company's move is equivalent to a "turnaround" and does not comply with the established rules of the auction.

"The auction is over and the rules are clear," Kleinhaus said in court.

23andMe, headquartered in South San Francisco, California, filed for bankruptcy protection in March this year due to declining consumer demand and a massive data breach in 2023, which resulted in the disclosure of the genes and personal information of millions of users.

The bankruptcy sale involves more than 15 million customer DNA data, which was collected through 23andMe's popular saliva testing kits. The data breach and bankruptcy have also attracted the attention of US congressmen, who are worried that sensitive genetic data may flow into the hands of improper buyers.

It is worth noting that in the previous auction, TTAM was listed as a candidate buyer, and its bid was valued at US$146 million at the time.