Theranos promised blood testing using only a finger prick, similar to how blood sugar levels are monitored. The finger prick blood tests were meant to be analysed with a proprietary machine called a Theranos Sample Processing Unit (TSPU). "Hot startup Theranos has struggled with its blood-test technology," its headline read. She welcomed a visit to the company from then-vice president Joe Biden and shared stages with Bill Clinton and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma as the press compared her to her idol, Steve Jobs.īut cracks began to appear in late 2015, when a now-famous article from the Wall Street Journal took a different angle. The company appeared to be moving from strength to strength, with Holmes the skivvy-clad visionary at its helm. "This CEO is out for blood," said another. "This woman invented a way to run 30 lab tests on only one drop of blood," one headline declared. Imitating an "OK" sign, she'd perch one of Theranos's tiny test containers between her thumb and forefinger, mere drops of blood inside, to show off the technology at photo shoots. That's not even mentioning the physical discomfort that patients can experience.įorbes cover featuring Elizabeth Holmes. If you've ever been to the doctor to have a blood test, you'll know it can be an uncomfortable experience.Ī significant amount of blood is drawn and the results can take hours or days. Taking the stand over the course of two weeks, Holmes tried to convince 12 men and women she shouldn't be sent to prison for defrauding investors and patients. However, by the end of 2021, she faced an altogether different sales job. Hidden from the public was the fact the technology never worked as intended.īuzz surrounding her company's potential propelled her into the Forbes Rich List as the youngest female billionaire and wealthiest self-made woman on the planet - on paper at least.ĭespite a patchy record, Theranos's blood work services were offered to doctors and patients, many of whom put their trust its technology and the promises Holmes made. With their backing, her company, Theranos, promised to revolutionise medical diagnostics with technology that could conduct clinical blood tests with just the prick of a finger. It was an apparently unshakable belief in her product that helped her to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from investors, including some of the world's most powerful people. As the saying goes, confidence is key in business.
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