Top 10 Theranos Scandal Facts

it had promised a healthcare revolution but as of early 2016 it finds itself embroiled in a major scandal welcome to watchmojo.com down 10 crucial facts you should know about the Thera no scandal number 10 what is fairness you'll get your results soon on our app thank you for coming to Theron s founded in 2003 Theron owes a play on the words therapy and diagnosis is a health technology and medical laboratory company as a growing startup based in California it promised an innovative service to streamline blood testing making it faster cheaper and easier our greatest motivation in doing this is is the byproduct which is the fact that testing begins to be more accessible for little kids or elderly persons however the company is also famously secretive and exact details about their enosis methods have proven difficult to ascertain it's blood testing device known as Edison uses a finger stick to draw tiny amounts of blood from which unprecedented amounts of data can allegedly be found but ther enosis credibility was called into question in the mid 2010 s number nine who is Elizabeth Holmes as CEO and founder Elizabeth Holmes is the face of Thera nose and the world's youngest self-made female billionaire a former student at Stanford University where she studied chemical engineering Holmes dropped out of her undergraduate program when she was 19 to pursue her pioneering venture I found what I felt like I was born to do at a really early age despite the fact that Edison has never been subjected to peer-reviewed study she worked to secure over 700 million dollars from investors for a company once valued at nine billion dollars in April 2016 Forbes valued Holmes own net worth at around three point six billion dollars though that figure had been as high as four point seven billion before it dipped as a result of recent controversies number eight how does Theron o--'s differentiate itself from other companies and we've made it possible to eliminate the tubes and tubes of blood that traditionally have to be drawn from an arm and replaced it with the Nano Tanner there are three strands to consider when discussing thier enosis claims of innovation first and fundamentally it aims for faster tests using less blood it becomes possible to engage individuals in the testing process in such a way in which they get the information they need at the time it matters whereas vials of blood are traditionally required from major veins the Thera nose method only needs microliters taken from a fingertip second there our nose aims to start democratizing the healthcare system by giving consumers direct access to blood tests this would be done by enabling people to request lab tests without a doctor's prescription finally ther enosis so-called groundbreaking technology has consistently drawn attention however it's notoriously reluctant to explicitly reveal its methods number seven which companies are considered ther enosis competition The Washington Post describes Thera nose as quote boldly plowing into a world where two large laboratory testing companies quest Diagnostics and laboratory Corp of America have billions of dollars of precious turf to protect quest was founded in 1967 and LabCorp in 1978 and both are among the largest clinical laboratories in the world but their nose has sought to rethink traditional blood testing and it isn't alone Abbott Laboratories have developed the I stat device which requires a physician to draw only small amounts of blood and a leer has a similar method that received FDA clearance in 2006 something that Thera nose has struggled to get while neither is an exact replica of what Thera nose offers both require smaller amounts of blood to work number six who is backing thorough nose farah naaz has received widespread attention partly thanks to its high-profile backers however because the company lacks board members that have a medical background the company has also prompted concern from the public instead most of the members have significant military and government experience this has led to boardroom shuffling with former secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George P Shultz being moved from the board of directors to a board of counselors in 2015 in April 2016 the company announced the addition of multiple quote nationally respected laboratory and medical experts to its scientific and medical advisory board but it's Board of Directors still consisted of former Secretary of Defense William Perry US senators Sam Nunn and Bill Frist as well as former senior military figures such as the retired US Marine Corps General James mattis and former Chief of Naval Operations Gary rough head furthermore in February of that same year Theron else was backed by American lawyer David Boies who was made the firm's attorney and was given a spot on the board of directors number five when did doubts about the company's ability surface fairness ran blood tests during a six-month period despite erratic quality control results after the company enjoyed dramatic early success by securing massive funding Thera Knossos reputation came under significant scrutiny in October 2015 when it was the subject of a front-page investigation by The Wall Street Journal following the report which included a series of allegations increased pressure was put onto Thera nose to reveal more details about its product which it was still reluctant to do within a month Thera nose had lost further credibility and business deals began to unravel in one of the most prominent cases the grocery chains Safeway sought to sever ties despite having spent 350 million dollars building thorough nose clinics in its stores number four what is the scandal surrounding thoroughness first it was alleged that the vast majority of Thera nose blood tests were actually carried out using traditional machines bought from companies such as siemens aged rather than its own Edison device this test was actually performed by the Thera nose lab in Northern California on a Siemens machine a commercial analyzer that's FDA approved and that any laboratory can buy in many cases blood was taken from a patient using the finger stick but was then diluted into a larger sample and analyzed using conventional technology furthermore President Sonny Bhiwani was also accused of ordering Thera noses employees to quote perform proficiency tests using third party machinery at a time when the lab was performing those same tests using its proprietary system the most serious allegations for the general public at least suggest the Thera noses blood test results are often inaccurate and that the questionable data produced could have harmful repercussions for the patient among further inadequacies found at their nose was the employment of unlicensed or under qualified workers and improper use of equipment does that seem to suggest that the lab itself is not being well run well certainly the inspectors found a lot of problems in the lab Dera nose came under fire again in mid-april 2016 when the Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors had launched a criminal investigation into whether the company misled investors about the way it does business and what it uses to do it number 3 how would the sanctions affect fairness and homes a letter sent by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services dated March 18 2016 found that thier nose had not sufficiently corrected its problems the letter which was again revealed by The Wall Street Journal included CMS proposals to ban Elizabeth Holmes and Theron O's president Sonny bhiwani from the blood testing business for two years Thera nose remains hopeful that CMS won't impose the sanctions saying quote it's all hypothetical at this point however should a ban be implemented the economic damage could be massive and the company's reputation unsalvageable number two did the media and startup culture contribute to this problem did we both let the height get ahead of the story if you're only doing one test in the world of start-up technology it's quite common to bend the truth and claim what you have is revolutionary when perhaps it's not the last few years Stardust has been viewed as a revolutionary company CEO has been not powerless next Steve Jobs company's been valued as much as nine billion dollars there's so much competition and so many people looking for the next new thing however while sensationalism may be excusable with regards to consumer tech or social media apps for example it is very risky to deviate from the truth in health care this is what happens when you work to change things and first they think you're crazy then they fight you and then all of a sudden you change the world if a medical startup doesn't do exactly as it claims then people's lives may be put in danger which is why recent revelations have caused so much damage for thier nose if it had introduced the Edison more modestly maybe the scandal would be less widespread but there would also be less general excitement for the product as it happens there was massive initial interest resulting in a very public fall from grace in retrospect when you when you look at where you are today one test with the prick of blood wasn't that going too far number one will thoroughness live up to a type it's difficult to see Thera nose emerging out of this scandal unscathed healthcare technologies need to be trustworthy from both the investors and the patient's point of view but this situation has thrown Thera noses integrity into doubt now you're confusing me how many tests are you doing right now from a simple pinprick as you described in that TED talk yeah so right now just because of this FDA transition one we're only doing one okay as pressure mounts on the company and medical authorities scrutinized further its backers could begin to withdraw that said if there are no scan prove that its technology is safe reliable and pioneering then it would enjoy a huge high-profile victory did either call you today and say you know what we got to rethink our relationship absolutely not we're incredibly blessed to have partners who have worked with us have actually seen our technology but as of April 2016 it's a balancing act between revolution and reliability their nose appears to be failing did these facts get you thinking to vote for which news story is covered next head over to watchmojo.com slash suggest and be sure to hit that subscribe button for more newsworthy top 10s published every week

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Keywords: theranos ceo, theranos scandal, elizabeth holmes, theranos stock, theranos issues, theranos problem, edison machines theranos, theranos scandal 2016, theranos lies, theranos investors, blood lab tests, theranos blood test, news, politics, theranos, scandal, controversy, health, health care, blood tests, quest diagnostics, abbott labs, sunny balwani, top 10, watchmojo

Id: VINIbbmI0BU

Length: 11min 27sec (687 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 21 2016