Slashdot Mirror
Disruptive Bloodwork Startup May Offer Mostly Vaporware
dmr001 writes: As seen previously, Palo Alto startup Theranos planned to put the power of affordable lab work directly in the hands of patients with tiny fingerprick samples taken at Walgreen's, with four hour turnaround. The company claimed their tests were "made possible by advances in the field of microfluidics." But they were cagey about methodology and didn't use FDA approved analyzers.
Now, the Wall Street Journal reports (paywalled) (among others) that all but one of Theranos' analyzers currently in use is off the shelf, and that their tiny samples may not always have been accurate. Typically cagey founder Elizabeth Holmes vigorously disputes the criticism of her $9 billion startup, but entrenched players like Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp (which do quite well charging orders of magnitude above Theranos' prices) are likely doing a happy dance.
Physicians worrying about patients bringing in their own carcinoembryonic antigen levels and Epstein Barr Virus panels to confirm their Internet diagnoses of cancer and chronic fatigue may also be breathing sighs of relief, albeit with bittersweet regret at the potential loss of the price advantage and milliliter samples.
Now, the Wall Street Journal reports (paywalled) (among others) that all but one of Theranos' analyzers currently in use is off the shelf, and that their tiny samples may not always have been accurate. Typically cagey founder Elizabeth Holmes vigorously disputes the criticism of her $9 billion startup, but entrenched players like Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp (which do quite well charging orders of magnitude above Theranos' prices) are likely doing a happy dance.
Physicians worrying about patients bringing in their own carcinoembryonic antigen levels and Epstein Barr Virus panels to confirm their Internet diagnoses of cancer and chronic fatigue may also be breathing sighs of relief, albeit with bittersweet regret at the potential loss of the price advantage and milliliter samples.
that all but one of Theranos' analyzers currently in use is off the shelf,
What. Wait.... Is it supposed to be on the shelf? Is there something missing?
TFA in Business Insider just complained about the membership of the Board of Directors (which is weird).
And finally, ** 10 billion dollars ** for a startup that does essentially the same thing as everybody else but maybe undercuts price and probably violates the law in 45 states?
I'm in the wrong business.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Further proof that, far more often than not, "disruptive" means ignoring the law for as long as humanly possible while hoping that your competitors can't (or won't) follow suit.
I can't wait for "disruptive" medicine as practiced by anyone with internet access and a hyperlink to WebMD.
But I'd rather trust 10B of funding than an article on the WSJ that could very well be a public opinion bomb from the highly influent big pharma lobby. My two cents
And yet, whenever the healthcare reform debate comes up in the US, it seems as if *both* sides of the political isle managed to *completely* ignore everything you just said when formulating their respective outrages and talking points. If only this problem was actually dealt with (and the situation would likely be illegal in any other industry), people wouldn't be so financially dependent on health insurance providers in the first place.
Especially one that has a woman ruler.
The minute you have a backup plan, you've admitted you're not going to succeed." -Elizabeth Holmes
It's always easy to be brave with other people's money.
lucm, indeed.
And yet, whenever the healthcare reform debate comes up in the US, it seems as if *both* sides of the political isle managed to *completely* ignore everything you just said when formulating their respective outrages and talking points. If only this problem was actually dealt with (and the situation would likely be illegal in any other industry), people wouldn't be so financially dependent on health insurance providers in the first place.
I am an American living in France.
When I go see a doctor, I pay 20 euros. However much else there is to be paid is paid directly by the state.
I recently saw a specialist surgeon for my knee. Cost me 60 euros. No idea how much he got paid by the state and I couldn't care less.
That same surgeon did my knee ligament and a bit of meniscus, both damaged during a fall skiing last year. In one day, out the next day, latest medical advances (tiny scar, everything done by camera - I even got a video afterwards). Cost me something like 330 euros. Can't remember exactly how much but when I said "Oh my god" it was out of shock that the bill was so small, not that I would have to sell my kidney to be able to pay it.
Do I pay higher taxes?
Yes.
Do I get something for my taxes?
Yes. In fact, not only do I get almost free excellent medical care - my kid will get excellent free university (assuming he passes the competitive exams which I'm quite confident about).
No immense student debt hanging over his head.
No getting fucked by the medical and insurance industries.
I have no problem at all about the taxes I pay now versus what I did living in the US.
I wish I could bottle up this experience and jam it down the throat of every idiot that says 'socialized medicine bad thing big government blah blah blah fucking blah). Instead to them I say - come live over here for a year and experience just how GOOD it is to not get completely fucked over when you go to the doctors.
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
In other words, you are a quack that believes in homeopathy? I'll thank the FDA for keeping you away from treating people in the US.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?