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just brew it!
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Re: Theranos

Mon Jun 13, 2016 6:23 pm

MarkG509 wrote:
ludi wrote:
a cadre of yes-men

Since learning why, the hard way, I've tended to avoid women that have their own "harems".

...except that in this case, that "harem" included two former US Secretaries of State, and a former Secretary of Defense. So a rather high profile group (but singularly unqualified to run a biotech startup, as they had no experience in that field). The whole thing is just bizarre.
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Re: Theranos

Mon Jun 13, 2016 6:54 pm

just brew it! wrote:
The whole thing is just bizarre.
It's just all too 'orderly'. Nothing collapses this quickly/cleanly/totally. Maybe Preet is just too busy.
 
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Re: Theranos

Sat Jun 25, 2016 9:21 am

The latest development: The PR person they brought in to do damage control (John McCain's former press secretary, apparently) when things started to unravel last fall has just quit.

It would also appear that Holmes has a major enabler for her RDF and poor decision making, in the form of the venture cap guy who gave her the initial seed money for Theranos.
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Re: Theranos

Sat Jun 25, 2016 12:57 pm

just brew it! wrote:
MarkG509 wrote:
ludi wrote:
a cadre of yes-men

Since learning why, the hard way, I've tended to avoid women that have their own "harems".

...except that in this case, that "harem" included two former US Secretaries of State, and a former Secretary of Defense. So a rather high profile group (but singularly unqualified to run a biotech startup, as they had no experience in that field). The whole thing is just bizarre.

To be fair, it's unusual for a board to have any relevant experience as a group. Usually the board for any given company is one third high-level management staff, one third politicians and random CEOs of other companies (usually of the celebrity sort), one third Wall Street guys and professional board members. Playing Spot The Useful One on a company's investor relations page can be a fun diversion when doing market research.
 
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Re: Theranos

Sat Jun 25, 2016 1:28 pm

NovusBogus wrote:
To be fair, it's unusual for a board to have any relevant experience as a group. Usually the board for any given company is one third high-level management staff, one third politicians and random CEOs of other companies (usually of the celebrity sort), one third Wall Street guys and professional board members. Playing Spot The Useful One on a company's investor relations page can be a fun diversion when doing market research.

Is it typical in these cases for the founder to have little or no relevant experience as well?

Edit: I'm starting to wonder if Holmes is a delusional product of the "special snowflake" generation, surrounded by enablers, but with no real skills beyond a phenomenal knack for self-promotion.
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Re: Theranos

Sat Jun 25, 2016 1:42 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Edit: I'm starting to wonder if Holmes is a delusional product of the "special snowflake" generation, surrounded by enablers, but with no real skills beyond a phenomenal knack for self-promotion.

IMO you can move straight through from "start" to "Doh!". At least PT Barnum understood he had to show a real product every now and then to look sufficiently honest to keep rooking the rubes.
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Re: Theranos

Wed Jun 29, 2016 8:50 am

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Re: Theranos

Wed Jun 29, 2016 9:03 am

HAHAHA! I fully expect there to be a movie about the Rise and Fall of Theranos and one Elizabeth Holmes. It will have an all-star cast; Matthew McConaughey, Kate Mara, Olivia Munn, Timothy Olyphant....Starring Mackenzie Davis as Elizabeth Holmes.

8)
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Re: Theranos

Wed Jun 29, 2016 9:54 am

tanker27 wrote:
HAHAHA! I fully expect there to be a movie about the Rise and Fall of Theranos and one Elizabeth Holmes. It will have an all-star cast; Matthew McConaughey, Kate Mara, Olivia Munn, Timothy Olyphant....Starring Mackenzie Davis as Elizabeth Holmes.

8)

They've already cast Jennifer Lawrence as Holmes: http://deadline.com/2016/06/jennifer-la ... 201769099/
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Re: Theranos

Wed Jun 29, 2016 10:58 am

I knew it was BS when I read they added Henry Kissinger to the board. Nothing against him personally, but he's been selling his name for a while now, to pay the bills... Like when Home Depot's totally clueless folks went and hired Norton to do their security after the massive breaches. Because the CEO knew the Norton name from all the advertising and bloatware installs on new PCs... And wanted a "safe" name to appease the sheep and give a semblance of credibility.
 
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Re: Theranos

Wed Jun 29, 2016 11:44 am

Linkedin recently sent me an email blast with a developer posting at Theranos at the top of the list. Yeah... not so much.

I'm not sure what to think about anyone who would buy into the company at this point.
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Re: Theranos

Wed Jun 29, 2016 12:02 pm

just brew it! wrote:
They've already cast Jennifer Lawrence as Holmes: http://deadline.com/2016/06/jennifer-la ... 201769099/


ARRRG I like Lawrence but she's best suited for Rom-Coms, that's poor casting IMHO.
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Re: Theranos

Wed Jun 29, 2016 10:26 pm

Redocbew wrote:
Linkedin recently sent me an email blast with a developer posting at Theranos at the top of the list. Yeah... not so much.


I had something similar happen to me.

Early '01 my graduate school class is about to start (located in downtown Houston), but we are all shooting the breeze about job-placement. Several students are talking big **** about their new employer, how it's the greatest Co. on the planet and their "perks" are "off-the-hook". I lean over to my friend and say: "that sort of rabid enthusiasm is exactly what occurs before financial melt-down in the stock-market". One of the students talking "big" overhears and says I'm "full of **** and that I don't know what the hell I'm talking about". :lol:

The Co. - Enron.

ALWAYS beware of rabid enthusiasm, people "preaching" that don't, and can't, have a handle on reality. :wink:
 
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Re: Theranos

Mon Jul 04, 2016 8:43 am

The House Energy and Commerce Committee jumps into the fray: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -democrats
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Re: Theranos

Fri Jul 08, 2016 7:55 am

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-08/end-theranos-ceo-elizabeth-holmes-banned-2-years-entering-lab

Looks like the lab will have to be redone but Holmes might as well get a few long haired cats and knit her own turtle necks for the next 2 years.
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Re: Theranos

Fri Jul 08, 2016 8:01 am

http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/08/technol ... es-banned/

Sounds like a virtual death sentence to me. The whole operation was a cult of personality revolving around Holmes, so with her gone all that's left is a machine that doesn't work, and some IP which may or may not have intrinsic value. I don't see how they'll be able to find the capital to keep them going for 2 years (let alone fix all their issues) without her RDF.

I predict they will liquidate, with an established biotech firm (maybe one of the other blood testing labs?) picking up the IP portfolio at fire sale prices, on the off chance that there's something of value there.

Edit: Oops, TSC posted while I was typing! Beat me to the punch in my own thread, eh? :lol:
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Re: Theranos

Mon Jul 11, 2016 12:20 am

A glimpse of the internal dysfunction at Theranos: http://www.wsj.com/articles/under-fire- ... 1468195377
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Re: Theranos

Tue Jul 12, 2016 5:52 am

Seems like Ms Holmes is not giving up without a fight: http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/07/ ... egligence/

It’s important to note that the CMS review pertained to the operations of the company’s Newark lab, not its technologies. Over the last 13 years, Theranos has developed a broad range of technologies, including small-volume sample assays, capillary collection and testing capabilities, the ability to test small-volume samples on a variety of different platforms (high-throughput and field devices), and a software suite for testing analysis and decision support. The clinical lab is just one of Theranos’ many opportunities to provide access to high-integrity, affordable and actionable health care information, and the company will continue to carry out its mission under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Elizabeth Holmes.


HMM...this could either get more interesting or uglier.
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Re: Theranos

Tue Jul 12, 2016 6:47 am

tanker27 wrote:
HMM...this could either get more interesting or uglier.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's all over at this point except for the vultures lawyers picking over whatever's left of the carcass. The bit you quoted is just the last dying gasp of Holmes' RDF.
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Re: Theranos

Tue Jul 12, 2016 6:56 am

Possibly, but it sounds like Theranos and Holmes are splitting the two. They really don't need a lab, they have a product.....a machine and corresponding software. So now they will focus on the machine and possibly sell/license it to other other labs, hospitals, doctors. Theranos was pretty clear about this when posting that announcement on their website.
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Re: Theranos

Tue Jul 12, 2016 7:18 am

tanker27 wrote:
Possibly, but it sounds like Theranos and Holmes are splitting the two. They really don't need a lab, they have a product.....a machine and corresponding software. So now they will focus on the machine and possibly sell/license it to other other labs, hospitals, doctors. Theranos was pretty clear about this when posting that announcement on their website.

Before they can do that, they need to fix their tech and prove to the world that it actually works. Given that Holmes was keeping her own employees in the dark -- if not outright lying to them -- about the company's situation, and the fact that raising any additional capital is going to be all but impossible now, I'd be surprised if they survive long enough to do that.

What do they have right now? A machine that has been certified accurate for only one of the hundreds of tests they claimed it was able to perform, a blood sample container for which FDA approval was withdrawn, and (maybe) a procedure for getting accurate results from standard blood testing machines using smaller-than-normal blood samples. Heck, their lead scientist committed suicide a few years ago after telling his wife "nothing works". Add it all up, and it does not look good.

IMO best case plausible outcome for Theranos/Holmes at this point is that another lab (or possibly a patent troll) buys the IP portfolio at a fire sale price, and the SEC's investigation does not result in criminal charges.
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Re: Theranos

Tue Jul 12, 2016 7:40 am

She can crash at my place if she needs to get away from things for a while.
 
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Re: Theranos

Tue Jul 12, 2016 8:48 am

IMO best case plausible outcome for Theranos/Holmes at this point is that another lab (or possibly a patent troll) buys the IP portfolio at a fire sale price, and the SEC's investigation does not result in criminal charges.

Agreed, though I don't think it will be a lab who buys Theranos. It will be a company that provides technology to the labs, like Abbott, Roche or Siemens. I doubt Quest, for example, would have much interest in them, because they don't really have the infrastructure to do the sort of commercialization that the technology requires (at least when I visited them last).

I have a colleague who worked at Theranos in the early days. He claims that they definitely needed adult supervision.
 
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Re: Theranos

Sat Jul 16, 2016 1:35 pm

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Re: Theranos

Sat Jul 16, 2016 1:49 pm

Was gonna post that yesterday, and forgot. Thanks for backing me up! :lol:
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Re: Theranos

Sat Jul 16, 2016 2:31 pm

The Egg wrote:
She can crash at my place if she needs to get away from things for a while.


I have a feeling that would be a bit more trouble than it's worth. :P
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Re: Theranos

Sat Jul 16, 2016 2:38 pm

Redocbew wrote:
The Egg wrote:
She can crash at my place if she needs to get away from things for a while.

I have a feeling that would be a bit more trouble than it's worth. :P

Heh heh... indeed. Though I suppose it depends on whether you're willing to let yourself be overcome by her RDF or not! :lol:
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Re: Theranos

Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:26 pm

Anyone reckon her gender and appearance made (mostly male) venture capitalists and traders more willing to give her company $$$ without as much attention to due diligence as might have otherwise been applied?
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Re: Theranos

Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:49 pm

It wouldn't be the first time, if so, but I doubt that explains the situation entirely.
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Re: Theranos

Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:55 pm

excession wrote:
Anyone reckon her gender and appearance made (mostly male) venture capitalists and traders more willing to give her company $$$ without as much attention to due diligence as might have otherwise been applied?

No, that's silly - we're talking about billions of dollars, not office politics. A real explanation was proposed here by sluggo:
sluggo wrote:
It was like a runaway train, with the wheel chocks happily removed by the insurers (no more expensive, annoying doctors to pay) and the track cleared by big pharma (who envisioned a faster/easier route to patient medication).

It all adds up to an irresistible fantasy if you're sitting on a few hundred mil and dead-set on turning it into billions.
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