back to article Billion-dollar blood-test unicorn biz Theranos 'putting lives at risk'

Controversial blood-testing upstart Theranos has been told to take immediate action at one of its testing facilities – or lose its certification. A letter [PDF] sent from federal health inspectors the company said the company's California testing facility presented "immediate jeopardy to patient safety". Its hematology lab, …

  1. a_yank_lurker

    Too Much Hype?

    It seems like most unicorns are overhyped. Theranos made claims about testing procedures that did not pass the smell test to veteran lab rats. The reason they never provided any data showing that their tests where as accurate as the tests they are to replace. As veteran lab rat (different area) this raises eyebrows.

    If they had stayed a moderately funded research project to develop and refine the tests all would be good. But the hype machine caught up with them and they did not say no.

  2. Schultz
    Alert

    Ouch!

    Looks like the fancy nano-testing is not quite production-ready yet and the big question is whether a billion dollars can fix that problem. The laws of nature are a bi*ch, they don't yield when you wave a big wad of cash.

    Let's hope that the backup plan of building a billion-dollar old-fashioned conventional testing facility works out. That was what they were talking about with that "room that processed over 90 percent of the samples at the time", right?

    1. Michael Hoffmann Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Ouch!

      Ah, but their feted CEO Elizabeth Holmes is quoted as saying ""I think that the minute that you have a backup plan, you've admitted that you're not going to succeed."

      https://twitter.com/stanfordbiz/status/558357949395894273

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ouch!

        > "I think that the minute that you have a backup plan, you've admitted that you're not going to succeed."

        Speaking as an aircraft pilot and sports skydiver, I think back up plans are a wonderful thing, thank you.

        And as an Alpinist, I also understand that sometimes a back-up plan is not viable (e.g., when the exposure is very low even though the danger is beyond acceptable), but that's called betting and if things go wrong you're toast.

  3. phil dude
    IT Angle

    peer review and repeatability...

    How about contracting a university that holds the right NIH/FDA Licenses to test the property.

    Surely, this would save them $$$, and maybe raise confidence they are not trying to pull a fast one...

    My $0.02.

    P.

    1. Dan Wilkie

      Re: peer review and repeatability...

      Unless they are trying to pull a fast one...

  4. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

    Mechanical Turk

    Who were that voicemail transcription by voice recognition company? Got lots of investment and hype, then turned out they were using people in Pakistan and the Philipines - and the voice recognition was only doing a measly few percent of the work.

    I seem to remember one person's message being transcribed, followed by "Help! Help! I haven't been paid for 2 months, and they're making me translate these messages."

  5. Gigabob

    gigabob@comcast.net

    Hard to know what the truth is these days. Does Theranos have a leading edge testing regimen that will dramatically cut costs and thus endanger the high cost of health care found in the US - or are the Son's of Bernie Madoff seeking your healthcare dollar.

    I have to expect that any startup will have to take some initial shortcuts to ramp and scale services as tools are developed, deployed and the bugs worked out. I am looking forward to the truth. Ever since the potential demonstrated by Affymetrix I have long held out for the battery of tests using a few cells instead of a few pints of blood.

  6. Tom 13

    Hmmm.....

    "This survey of our Newark, CA lab began months ago and does not reflect the current state of the lab," says an emailed response. "As the survey took place we were simultaneously conducting a comprehensive review of our laboratory’s systems, processes and procedures to ensure that we have best-in-class quality systems."

    But, if you are a start up that just got a bundle of VC cash to build out your facility, shouldn't you have had those "best-in-class quality systems." already without the need for a review?

    Something smells rotten in Denmark Palo Alto.

  7. x 7

    where theres blood theres money.

    Or is it the other way round?

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like