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Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

wsj.com

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Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#61

Post by Mz »

wrong_variable wrote: post #16
jackcn wrote: post #11

Like I've mentioned before, Theranos needs to shut down. The technology doesn't work (and likely it never will since blood constituents are not evenly distributed at small volumes) and its investors and executives are complicit in fraud. While half-completed/non-working solutions are fine in software world and with consumer electronics, a misreading or missed reading of blood parts can easily cost the health or life…

healthcare is a very hard problem. While we in the tech community may find it morbidly entertaining to watch Theranos burn to the ground. Someone out there needs to attack healthcare. The not dying motivation is fairly important.

Medical care and health care aren't actually the same thing. And the problem is that actually improving health for humans tends to be relatively cheap and culturally based. It is pretty much not a big money space. It involves things like inventing soap and getting people to wash their hands. And this is a thing most people do not want to hear.

Better drugs and better surgeries are all ooh, shiny! but they really are not optimal. The optimal approach is boring and hard to even see. People who fail to get sick are incredibly hard to measure. Heroic interventions after the fact are far easier to measure and make for more interesting press. They also can be charged big bucks.

The whole thing kind of sucks, frankly.

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#62

Post by joshpadnick »

jackcn wrote: post #11

Like I've mentioned before, Theranos needs to shut down. The technology doesn't work (and likely it never will since blood constituents are not evenly distributed at small volumes) and its investors and executives are complicit in fraud. While half-completed/non-working solutions are fine in software world and with consumer electronics, a misreading or missed reading of blood parts can easily cost the health or life…

I, for one, would mourn the death of Theranos. I live in Phoenix and used their lab service before all the negative press came out. They did the micro-vial testing on me so the blood draw was totally painless, quick, and just a few bucks per test.

The big issue of course, is maybe the results I got can't be trusted, and sadly I think for my next blood draw I'll use a traditional lab so I don't worry about accuracy (even though traditional labs apparently make mistakes all the time[1]).

Theranos does get an F for public relations. I'd love to read an interview with Elizabeth Holmes on her take on all the negative press. Did they really screw up this badly? Are there fundamental limitations in their technology, or did they just bungle execution? Do they feel they are misrepresented in any way by these articles?

The real point is that they were at least trying to do something revolutionary and we only hear the WSJ side of the story and can't know what legal restrictions (or internal bungling) prevent them from sharing another perspective. If somehow they can navigate their way out of the swamp, it'd be a great win to have cheaper/faster/less painful labs available for the masses.

[1] http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/weak-oversi...

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#63

Post by supernova87a »

I think the reason we (maybe secretly) take so much satisfaction / schadenfreude at this story is that someone who was so hyped and the darling of Silicon Valley got so much funding and attention. While others who toil away on good ideas, without nearly so many connections and silver spoons, struggle to even get 1 minute of air time with the kind of funders and backers that she got.

That, plus seeing the cluelessness and herd mentality of the people who are supposedly the experts at judging tech potential in this area.

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#65

Post by ThomPete »

wrong_variable wrote: post #16
jackcn wrote: post #11

Like I've mentioned before, Theranos needs to shut down. The technology doesn't work (and likely it never will since blood constituents are not evenly distributed at small volumes) and its investors and executives are complicit in fraud. While half-completed/non-working solutions are fine in software world and with consumer electronics, a misreading or missed reading of blood parts can easily cost the health or life…

healthcare is a very hard problem. While we in the tech community may find it morbidly entertaining to watch Theranos burn to the ground. Someone out there needs to attack healthcare. The not dying motivation is fairly important.

It is and so it's kind of absurd that someone would create so much hype around their company before they even had something working.

I would in fact call it irresponsible.

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#68

Post by Mz »

supernova87a wrote: post #63

I think the reason we (maybe secretly) take so much satisfaction / schadenfreude at this story is that someone who was so hyped and the darling of Silicon Valley got so much funding and attention. While others who toil away on good ideas, without nearly so many connections and silver spoons, struggle to even get 1 minute of air time with the kind of funders and backers that she got. That, plus seeing the cluelessness…

Or maybe some folks feel relieved to have their mental models for actual reality validated. Folks who thought it smelled like vaporware at best, or BS at worst, may not be engaging in schadenfreude so much as "Ha! I knew it! I'm not crazy!"

It is possible to have not ugly reasons for finding satisfaction in seeing how this is turning out.

Re: Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S

#69

Post by shas3 »

For all the EPA fights that plague larger older companies (and many new ones, too), industrial safety and adherence to regulations is very deeply ingrained in their cultures. Heads roll pretty quickly for violations at lower levels. Even higher level executives are often quite responsible about staying within the bounds of laws and regulations (though they are less so in doing layoffs and such). This obviously leads to slower innovation and more red-tape, but I have come to believe that slower innovation is an acceptable price to pay for the rest of the stuff being legit.

If you are challenging the old order in old industries, and have to move fast and break (the right) things, do it like Tesla and Space X, not Theranos.

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