Elizabeth Holmes is finally presenting Theranos data as company collapses

[steve2470]

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/08/elizabeth-holmes-is-finally-presenting-theranos-data-as-company-collapses/

Amid intense scrutiny, lawsuits, harsh federal sanctions, and criminal probes, Theranos CEO and founder Elizabeth Holmes will finally present data on her struggling company’s blood testing technology.

She will present today at 4:30pm in a special session of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry’s annual conference, being held this year in Philadelphia.

The presentation couldn’t come at a more dire time for the company, which has seen a staggering number of setbacks in recent months. The most prominent of those include federal regulators banning Holmes from the clinical blood testing business for at least two years and shuttering one of the company’s labs. Theranos has seen its valuation drop from $9 billion to around $800 million. Its commercial partner, Walgreens, also backed out of its contract and shut down 40 of the companies' joint “wellness centers.”

The timing of the presentation may appear as a hasty, desperate attempt to quell critics and restore some validity to the company, however Holmes has been on AACC’s docket for months.

more at link


From what I've read, she'll have an extremely rough go of it, even if she has the data.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

1. It's possible Holmes isn't in on the joke, but Theranos is bullshit

[GeorgeGist]

2. but she invented it.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. If you believe that I have a bridge in Arizona to sell you

[MineralMan]

3. Elizabeth Holmes. I started following her and her company

when she became the darling of all the business publications. I was interested to see whether she was onto something or just scamming. In the end, I think she probably believed she had something but wasn't able to make it work as planned.

In the process, though, she sure managed to dupe a lot of people into supporting her vision.

I suppose she was as charming as she looks.

[steve2470]

5. live blog of her presentation

Holmes begins by talking about the issues with her clinical laboratories. She says that the presentation is not about her existing laboratories, or about new technologies. These technologies have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Holmes says that Theranos’ technologies, focused on small volume samples, are run both with existing technologies (she shows a picture of a commercial device) and proprietary technologies. There is a server, called the Theranos Veirtual analyzer, and a Theranos Sample Processing Unit (the miniLab.)

At Theranos “Some of our greatest breakthroughs” came from integrating different platforms, including molecular biology, immunology, and others. She shows minitiarized camera, robot, cartridge, sonicator, thermocycler, centrifuge. “What I’m showing you now is the result of hundreds of scientists work over many years: Our miniLab system,” she says.

Material handling robot transfers fluides: Precision: 2.75% precision at two microliters. Shows a cartridge, a box that is 1.5? by 3.5? by 4.6?. Has barcode controls, contains a nanotainer. Reagents are preloaded in automated manufacturing. Eliminates the need for tubing and space in traditional instrumentation. Cartridge is automatically opened by the mini-lab. That sample port can also be optimized. Shows inside of the box. It’s really neat. Contains a centrifuge vessel, tips for transferring samples, and nanotainer tubes.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2016/08/01/theranos-live-blog/#6d9f8087539a