Theranos Is Laying Off 155 People, About 41 Percent Of Its Workforce (cnbc.com)

The embattled blood-testing company Theranos is laying off 155 people, about 41 percent of its workforce, as it struggles to recover from the backlash generated when the company failed to provide accurate results to patients using its proprietary blood test technology. The job cuts announced today are similar to the cuts announced last year in October, when the company said it would shut down its blood-testing facilities and shrink its workforce by more than 40%. CNBC reports: The start-up will let go of its workers after months of regulatory setbacks as well as lawsuits and scrutiny. That would leave 220 workers to focus on its business plans, primarily its blood testing product called the miniLab. "These are always the most difficult decisions; however, this move allows Theranos to marshal its resources most efficiently and effectively," Theranos said in a statement.

Comments

59% to go

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are they even keeping their doors open? They are based solely off of fraud.

Re:59% to go

[tripleevenfall]

The final step will be patent trolling.

Re:59% to go

[rmdingler]

Alas, and even finally, there are some things beneath patent trolls.

Re:59% to go

[Ol Olsoc]

Why are they even keeping their doors open? They are based solely off of fraud.

Fraud is the next big thing.

Re:59% to go

[fluffernutter]

Fraud is the new business. Keep up!

Re:59% to go

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Why are they even keeping their doors open? They are based solely off of fraud.

Fraud is the next big thing.

Forget IoT (Internet of Things)! . . . Invest in IoF (Internet of Fraud)!

Re:59% to go

[tripleevenfall]

There's a major battle being waged over direct-to-consumer healthcare (particularly medical genomics). Medical doctors don't want to be replaced by automation.

"Medical doctors" perform lab tests?

Re:59% to go

[tripleevenfall]

He's using a Theranos calculator that's still in beta

Re:59% to go

[Alumoi]

Is there any difference between IoT and IoF? I mean except the time it takes from the moment the sucker connects the device to the net and the bot army takes it over.

Re:59% to go

[Mr Foobar]

"Medical doctors" perform lab tests?

Yes, in a theoretical (layman's definition) sense, that's true. Pathologists, the MD/DO educated physicians that run the medical laboratories producing lab tests, are responsible for the results which come from the labs they run. We medical laboratory technologists, along with other medical lab professionals like cytotechnologists, who do the actual manual labor of performing the tests, are the "hands" of the pathologists that would actually be running the tests if we weren't trained to work in their stead. At core, we lab techs all know and understand this, and the med lab field is an ancillary medical field. A lot of medical tech field operate the same same, being the laborers for the doctors for a particular field. Nuclear med techs and radiation dosologists are similar.

Re:59% to go

[davester666]

Fraud has been the 'big thing' since forever. It's been time tested to be an excellent method separate people and their money.

not quite

[Jodka]

From the summary:
"Theranos... failed to provide accurate results to patients"

No. They fraudulently claimed to provide accurate results. If they had merely failed it would not be a scandal.

 

Re:not quite

[mhkohne]

I think their only hope is to actually make the minilab tech work, then sell the technology to some big medical player who can go through the required testing without the Theranos people being at all involved.

I suspect that what they'll ACTUALLY do is screw around, run out of money and close the doors. It'll be interesting to see if anyone actually buys their IP - even at fire sale prices, it's somewhat tainted if you want to actually produce a product. I can't imaging anyone who does anything based on this tech (or hires any of their people) isn't going to get a little extra scrutiny from the FDA.

Re: not quite

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of the time, they used other competitors products to generate results while they worked on their own bloid test systems.

But their lead engineering designer committed suicide

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3776888/Award-winning-scientist-struggling-make-Theranos-blood-test-machines-work-committed-suicide-amid-fears-Silicon-Valley-firm-s-32-year-old-CEO-fire-claims-wife.html

What is the plan moving forward?

[HalAtWork]

Do they have any legitimate aspirations or are they still planning to fake it 'til they make it?

Executive Malfeasance?

[BoRegardless]

Sure seems like it.

Re:Executive Malfeasance?

[TuballoyThunder]

I find it amazing that Holmes and others in leadership positions are not being prosecuted under 18 U.S. Code 1035 - False statements relating to health care matters. But IANAL.

Theranos based on technical error

[Anonymous Coward]

I spent a fair amount of my life as a licensed medical testing professional. Theranos based their technology purely on using the blood sample from a finger stick (puncture). When you puncture skin like that you are also cutting open the cells of the tissue in the finger tip which leaks the cell contents as well as clotting factors into your sample. Most tests are done on circulating blood that are assumed to have a very low concentration of cell contents. An example is that sodium is high concentration in the blood and low concentration inside of cells. Potassium is the opposite with low concentration in the blood and high concentration in the cell contents. Hence, when you mix the two in a finger stick puncture it will be inaccurate by definition.

59% lower than expected.

[TsuruchiBrian]

The layoffs of it's workforce are about 59% lower than expected considering the whole company is based on a sham.

Re:59% lower than expected.

[phantomfive]

The real question is, "how are they affording to pay the rest of their employees?"

Ok no H1B's for at least 2-3 years unless full reh

[Joe_Dragon]

Ok no H1B's for at least 2-3 years unless full rehire 1st.

Once again this is why these companies are

[rsilvergun]

so valuable. >400 employees, $4 billion dollar valuation. There's not a lot of risk there. Sure, 9 out of 10 fail, but the 1 that survives makes up for the 9 that don't. And the 9 that don't are enough "losses" that you don't pay a dime in taxes on the profits from #1. It's a completely screwed up and perverse system created by our lovely tax code and all it's cheats.

Re:Once again this is why these companies are

[jellomizer]

"Supply and demand" is your answer.
If people want it they will pay more for it. If it is hard to get they will pay more as well.
Being that the company mode false promises it appeared they offered a product that a lot of people wanted that was hard to get so the company value is high.

Value != worth. There is more worth in a healthy avocado compared to say the first Superman comic with a misprint. However the value is much higher. And you can sell that comic for a lot of avocados.

Most of the prices of things including your salary are based on emotional response. How much you think you should make for the work. How much the company needs your skills plus how hard is it to find someone else who is willing to do the same work at the same ability for less.

Re:Please let the dingbat be one of them

[fluffernutter]

She'll be in the privileged princess unemployment line, where they just give you a check for a million dollars if they can't find a CEO position for you. I doubt you have access to that line.

Holmes First

[sdinfoserv]

The entire company is nothing more than the hubris of a self-absorbed mega-ego maniac. Patient health be damned, she got to be another poster child for women success stories; riding the talk show circuit like a goddess all the while pimping dangerous snake oil that every other researcher and doctor she talked with said the device wasn’t practical.

It astonishes me that after everything that has come to light, the board doesn’t toss her out first.

Re:Holmes First

[Anonymous Coward]

But enabled by millions of mommybloggers, 3rd wave feminists, and dotcom speculators.

If she hadn't existed, we would have found it necessary to create her.

The "D" in Theranos means Dependable

[TuballoyThunder]

I think Theranos has adopted hope as a strategy.

Re:155 jobs lost

[phantomfive]

Trump isn't going to waste money (his or anyone else's) on the idiocy that Obama has.

Like building a wall? Of all the good qualities Trump might possibly have, "avoid wasting money" isn't in the realm of possibility.

So who's losing their job?

[hyades1]

You can bet your house that the cocksuckers who made all the bad decisions are still pulling down major bucks...probably even bonuses.

Did Madoff's company stay open for one more day?

[EmperorOfCanada]

This makes no sense. I would be royally ticked as a defrauded investor that they were spending one more cent. I would demand my money back. The woman running it had better not be getting one of the pennies left over.