Theranos was once a major player in the growing iiquid biopsy market.

Something went wrong and now CEO  Elizabeth Holmes is in very serious trouble.

Continue below for more on this story.

Looking back… A couple of years ago we began following the liquid biopsy buzz and the massive interest several Silicon Valley investors had in firms like Theranos.

Now Theranos CEO and product evangelist Elizabeth Holmes is facing fraud charges arising from numerous deceptive practices, including her own false representations to media and investors alike.

So, what happened?

One good place to start is the  September, 2016  Vanity Fair “HIVE” article written by investigative reporter Nick Bilton (tap Lizzy’s image).

 

CNBC recently broadcast new charges against the likeable Ms. Holmes. Tap the broadcast image for a video.

 

More posts below and tap Lizzy once again to access the 4/2017 WSJ article that quoted an investor as having said that “… Theranos used a shell company to buy commercial lab equipment, then pretended it was using its own technology in demonstrations for prospective partners and investors.”

 

The quote “Theranos didn’t do their homework” is attributed to Harvard Business School Professor and CNBC contributor Bill George who discussed the Theranos issue on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on their April 14, 2016 broadcast. For the discussion in its entirety tap on the Theranos signage.

Timeline note: By now, Creative Biotech had been following this cancer blood test ‘saga’ for weeks and you can read some of our coverage immediately below.

In april 2016, watchmojo.com published a countown of 10 points noted in the Theranos scandal. Tap the WM image for that video.

Unreliable cancer blood tests are in the news again.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Embattled blood-testing company “Theranos” is once again facing scrutiny for its technology as a new study in the “Journal of Clinical Investigation” (first published 3-28-16) raises more questions about the accuracy of the company’s single-drop blood tests. Tap test tubes for more.

The testing was conducted by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, which compared privately-held Theranos’ methods to more traditional testing methods of larger companies Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LH).

The above article was written by By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff. Tap their logo for entire story.

Theranos isn’t alone in avoiding regulation using an easily exploited loophole — in fact, it’s just one among many. Pathway Genomics (see story below), Admera Health, and Strand Life Sciences are diagnostics companies that offer cancer tests that impact people’s health care decisions. Each of these companies has been making use of what’s known as the “laboratory developed test” loophole — which makes avoiding pre-market verification downright easy.

Pathway Genomics raised $40 million in its last funding round and claims to have a very simple, inexpensive blood test that can tell if someone who otherwise appears normal and healthy might indeed have cancer. Here follows a piece we published earlier on this subject.
Pathway first caused a collective eyebrow to be raised at CBS last September, when they announced the launch of a test they were calling the “CancerIntercept Detect and Monitor”.

Additional notoriety came their way when Pathway and their screening tool were the subject of a discussion on an episode of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” – Order a kit for $299 and problem solved – now back to shopping.

Pathway’s Board features some very powerful people, like Peter Pace, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Barbara Franklin, former Secretary of Commerce and Newt Gingrich, former Presidential candidate – no influential lightweights here.

The liquid biopsy market is expected to be well in excess of $22 billion by the year 2020 and in truth this product may be just as many years away from complete development. The CBS scrutiny caused the firm to pull back on its promotions and you can view the entire broadcast and story text by clicking the CBS logo above.

Learn about genomes courtesy of the National Human Genome Research Institute by clicking on this image.