Theranos
Theranos Inc. (/ˈθɛr.ən.oʊs/) was an American privately held corporation[5] that was touted as a breakthrough health technology company. Founded in 2003 by then 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos raised more than US$700 million from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $10 billion valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014. The company claimed that it had devised blood tests that required very small amounts of blood and that could be performed rapidly and accurately, all using compact automated devices that the company had developed. These claims were proven to be false.[4][6][7]
Formerly
Real-Time Cures (2003)
2003
September 2018[a]
Dissolved and liquidated; founder convicted (January 2022) of wire fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to 11+1⁄4 years (135 months) in prison
- Elizabeth Holmes (chairwoman and CEO)
- Sunny Balwani (president and COO)
- Ian Gibbons (CSO)
theranos.com at the Wayback Machine (archived August 28, 2018)
A turning point came in 2015, when medical research professor John Ioannidis, and later professor of clinical biochemistry Eleftherios Diamandis, along with investigative journalist John Carreyrou of The Wall Street Journal, questioned the validity of Theranos's technology. The company faced a string of legal and commercial challenges from medical authorities, investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), state attorneys general, former business partners, patients, and others.[8] By June 2016, Forbes estimated that Holmes's personal net worth had dropped from $4.5 billion to "nothing".[9] After several years of struggle, lawsuits, and sanctions from CMS, what remained of the company was dissolved in September 2018.[a]
Theranos, Holmes and former company president Sunny Balwani were charged with fraud by the SEC in 2018. Holmes and Balwani were also charged with wire fraud and conspiracy, with Holmes being found guilty on four counts in January 2022 and sentenced that November to 11 years and 3 months in prison. Balwani was convicted on all 12 counts brought against him in July 2022, and in December 2022 was sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison and 3 years of probation.
Technology and products[edit]
Theranos claimed to have developed devices to automate and miniaturize blood tests using microscopic blood volumes. Theranos dubbed its blood collection vessel the "nanotainer" and its analysis machine the "Edison".[110][111][112] Holmes reportedly named the device "Edison" after inventor Thomas Edison, stating, "We tried everything else and it failed, so let's call it the Edison." This was likely because of a well-known Edison quote: "I've not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."[113] The blood sample was to be collected via a finger prick and then transferred to the nanotainer through Theranos's sample collection device. At just 12.9 millimetres (0.51 in) in height, the nanotainer held a couple of drops of blood.[113]
One of the patents for the Edison described a point of care system that could communicate with the Internet to receive instructions for which blood tests to run on the samples, before communicating these results back through the Internet. The results would then be compared to medical data available on the Internet, with the Edison running supplementary blood tests that were more targeted based on the results of the comparison. The patent was unclear on how much blood the Edison would actually require to conduct these blood tests. In one section, the patent claimed the sample needed to consist of about 10 drops of blood, but in another section, the patent claimed the Edison would need less than one drop of blood.[114] The technology was criticized for not being peer reviewed.[115][116] Theranos claimed to have data verifying the accuracy and reliability of its tests that would be published.[117] In February 2016, Theranos announced that it would permit the Cleveland Clinic to complete a validation study of its technology.[118]
In March 2016, a study authored by 13 scientists appeared in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, where it was stated that the company's blood test results were flagged "outside their normal range 1.6× more often than other testing services", that 68 percent of lab measurements evaluated "showed significant interservice variability", and that "lipid panel test results between Theranos and other clinical services" were "nonequivalent".[119] In August 2016 the company introduced a new robotic capillary blood testing unit named "miniLab" at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, but did not present any data supporting the claimed abilities of the device.[120][121][122] The miniLab was allegedly capable of carrying out a range of tests from a small amount of blood. After Theranos failed to address concerns that it exaggerated the capabilities of the miniLab, Walgreens withdrew from their partnership. It was later revealed that Theranos had voided two years of test results showing inaccuracies with the Edison technology.[123]
Corporate affairs[edit]
Location[edit]
The company moved from 3200 Hillview Ave to the former headquarters of Facebook at 1601 S. California Ave in June 2012.[124][125] By 2017 Theranos was headquartered at 1701 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, California, paying a $1 million per month lease for the Stanford Research Park building.[126][127] It had laboratories in Newark, California, and Scottsdale, Arizona.[128] In 2017, when Theranos was still denying its publicly reported fraud, the company vacated its Page Mill headquarters, moving remaining staff into the Newark, California, laboratories; Stanford University School of Medicine converted the Page Mill building to offices and medical laboratories.[126]
Books and documentaries[edit]
John Carreyrou, a Wall Street Journal journalist whose work exposed Theranos, published a book-length treatment in May 2018 titled Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.[154] A film version was reportedly scheduled for release in 2020, starring Jennifer Lawrence as Elizabeth Holmes, written by Vanessa Taylor and directed by Adam McKay.[155][156] In January 2022, McKay stated that preparations for the film had resumed, and that Lawrence was working on learning Holmes's speech pattern.[157] However, in November 2022, Lawrence announced she would no longer be involved with the project.[158]
In January 2019 ABC News Nightline released a podcast and documentary about the Holmes/Theranos story called The Dropout.[159] A miniseries with the same name, based on the eponymous podcast, premiered on Hulu in the US, Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ internationally in March 2022, with Amanda Seyfried as Holmes.[160] Also in January 2019 a documentary film entitled The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley about Holmes and Theranos was released. Directed by Alex Gibney, it made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival and was released to the general public in March 2019 on HBO platforms.[161][162]