Theranos - a cautionary tale for medical tech

[Bernard Murphy]

This is a company that promised to revolutionize hundreds of tests using a pinprick and a single drop of blood. They soared to a $9B valuation but have increasingly come under government and market scrutiny regarding the substance of their claims and the safety of their lab tests. A reminder that we in general and the market in particular are predisposed maybe a little more than we should be to believe in miracles, both medical and financial.

Caveat emptor.

Theranos Sounded Too Good to Be True?and It Is - The Daily Beast

 

[Don Dingee]

$9B valuation, some very high profile partners, a lot of inaccurate results, and plastered with an "immediate jeopardy" letter from the FDA - and still in business.

I'm apparently doing things very, very wrong from a career/earnings standpoint. The road to riches is clearly not about producing a good product or being honest with folks.

 

[Bernard Murphy]

No truer words...

 

[smeyer0028]

An MD on a blog I read posted something from his wife who runs a hospital testing lab
when Theranos first started saying that the pin prick technology could not possibly work. I wonder
why none of the private investors did any investigating.

 

[Bernard Murphy]

An MD on a blog I read posted something from his wife who runs a hospital testing lab
when Theranos first started saying that the pin prick technology could not possibly work. I wonder
why none of the private investors did any investigating.

Good point - I think investors (and their backers) are as prone to group-think as anyone - "why aren't you investing in that company when everyone else is investing in it?"

 

[Daniel Payne]

I worked at an EDA start-up called Opmaxx that had a charismatic founder, private Swiss funding, and we even won an EDN Product of the Year Award, however our tool never performed as claimed. It took me 9 months to figure it out, then I quickly exited and re-joined Mentor Graphics instead.

Honesty is the best policy in EDA and in life.

 

[Staf_Verhaegen]

A reminder that we in general and the market in particular are predisposed maybe a little more than we should be to believe in miracles, both medical and financial.

That and the fact government is bad except when they need to clean up the mess and risks some private companies make.

 

[Arthur Hanson]

Staf, our government is far, far worse than the private sector, I follow not only the money trail, but the trail of lies, deception and deceit that have become our government. Trust me I do know and many times wish I didn't. If companies or individuals fail they go broke or have reputations ruined, in government they cover it up and even reward failure, even horrible ones that cost hundreds of thousands lives.

 

[Arthur Hanson]

I recently had blood test done by the two of the largest organizations in the US within one hour of each other, Kaiser and Quest and the results were different. I did not eat or drink anything in between tests.

 

[Bernard Murphy]

I recently had blood test done by the two of the largest organizations in the US within one hour of each other, Kaiser and Quest and the results were different. I did not eat or drink anything in between tests.

Interesting - I had a similar experience but between Quest and the local emergency room. I told the ER that I had tests done at Quest, the ER wanted their own tests and ignore the Quest data. I wonder why?

 

[Arthur Hanson]

My best guess is legal issues. I follow both and Quest has had no quality problems from numerous inspections. Being publicly listed, Quest is under constant scrutiny and many looking for even a whiff of a problem. Quest does more tests than anyone in the US I believe.

 

[Bernard Murphy]

Good to know. Maybe also just NIH (not national institutes of health, but not invented here)

 

[Don Dingee]

I told the ER that I had tests done at Quest, the ER wanted their own tests and ignore the Quest data.

Understood this discussion is about drawing a blood sample. But this is a mounting problem with IoT health/fitness devices in general - can't read it, don't trust it, doesn't matter that you, the patient, are providing data. Unless the provider issued the device, it might as well not be there for more than just giving the patient information.

Until our litigation system changes this isn't going to change. If the provider relies on someone else's data and it's wrong, and then gets sued, that is too big a risk.

That said, all of Theranos' ecosystem of providers swear in blood as to accuracy, right? We're gonna see one of those commercials soon, "Did you have a Theranos blood test and suffer injury, or even death? Call us at 1-800-WESUE4U."

 

[Bernard Murphy]

Understood this discussion is about drawing a blood sample. But this is a mounting problem with IoT health/fitness devices in general - can't read it, don't trust it, doesn't matter that you, the patient, are providing data. Unless the provider issued the device, it might as well not be there for more than just giving the patient information.

Until our litigation system changes this isn't going to change. If the provider relies on someone else's data and it's wrong, and then gets sued, that is too big a risk.

That said, all of Theranos' ecosystem of providers swear in blood as to accuracy, right? We're gonna see one of those commercials soon, "Did you have a Theranos blood test and suffer injury, or even death? Call us at 1-800-WESUE4U."

Don - agreed "somewhat" but it's not just about litigation, it's also about credibility and track record. How would we feel if someone from our outside our industry, with no expertise in our domains, told us that they were going to revolutionize the way we built chips and systems? I'm guessing while we might be curious, they would probably have little impact on how we operate, not just at an industry level but also at a day-to-day level. Sure doctors worry about litigation, but they also rely on science they know will work. We're no different.

 

[ippisl]

>> saying that the pin prick technology could not possibly work. I wonder
why none of the private investors did any investigating.

I always wondered why did they(investors/managers) go the route of using pin pricks at this stage - sure it definitely would have increased their market and valuation , but even just offering regular blood testing(vain) with labs on chips , at half the price - does seem like a good business , and less risky.

 

[Arthur Hanson]

I personally find US medical to be the largest criminal organization in the world. It delivers 37th in quality and four times the cost of average medical and substantially more than other industrialized countries where it ranges from double to four times the cost. They spend more on advertising than research in pharma in the US. Medical and the government are in an unholy alliance that pulls in more excess money than any criminal enterprise on the planet. Us medical expenditure is four times plus what the Pentagon spends after you back medical costs out of the Pentagon budget. The government and medical have worked hand in hand with massive regulation to kill true competition and keep costs high and quality low. Just the simple no brainer ways of lowering medical costs could cut the costs in half. US medical is nothing short of a tragedy even though we have some of the best medical technology and even this edge is slipping away.