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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

#81

Post by GCA10 »

HillRat wrote: post #8
seehafer wrote: post #4

When I first read this headline I was thinking "Uh oh, Theranos must have very badly handled its interactions with FDA". But this is apparently the SEC investigating the company. Does anyone know how often the SEC investigates a private company with a product that's still essentially in beta testing?

Well, if it can be shown that they lied or omitted material information in the course of soliciting equity investments, that's a Rule 10b-5 violation, the SEC's big club. The fact that Theranos is a private company is immaterial, as is the possibility that none of its investors may have complained.

Theranos has at least two mainstream venture funds among its investors. These funds have limited partners, most of which are fairly famous institutions (including big-name universities). These LPs hate to see their money squandered -- and they may feel a legal obligation to raise a ruckus.

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

#82

Post by toomuchtodo »

wstrange wrote: post #80
BurningFrog wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a good factual overview of why Single Payer won't make health care cheap in the US: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-04-30/single-paye...

Summary of the article: A single payer system works well everywhere else, but is politically impossible in the US. That is a sad indictment of US politics.

Well, its politically impossible now, but people opposed to it are dying every day.

Same sex marriage, marijuana decriminalization/legalization, etc all took time. This'll take time as well. I just wish people didn't have to suffer and die because of their fellow citizens' shortsightedness.

"Progress occurs one funeral at a time."

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

#83

Post by aab0 »

mrdmnd wrote: post #67
blakeross wrote: post #21

Here's a television parody I wrote about Theranos that ends right where this story begins... http://pricks.com

I just read a 32 page script and now I want you to write major television shows. Is that your actual job? This is really good.

The Blood Fairy and final speech are the funniest things I've read today. Possibly also for a few days before that too.

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

#84

Post by zepto »

BurningFrog wrote: post #72
toomuchtodo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Someone out there needs to attack healthcare. All the attacking that needs to be done is political/social, not technical. Want to attack healthcare? Strip middlemen out so that the money flows to providers and researchers (Single payer + pouring additional money into the NIH/NSF, with the results being public domain). All of these YC startups I see "hacking" healthcare (Dr Chrono, HealthSherpa, etc) are just bandai…

Here is a good factual overview of why Single Payer won't make health care cheap in the US: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-04-30/single-paye...

That factual piece only makes one real argument, which is that reducing income flows to the healthcare sector would be politically untenable.

That argument applies equally to based solutions to the problem which are not proceeding because of regulatory capture.

Something has to give.

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

#85

Post by mrdmnd »

blakeross wrote: post #78
mrdmnd wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just read a 32 page script and now I want you to write major television shows. Is that your actual job? This is really good.

Thank you! Currently it's a hobby; my background is in tech. This is the second script I've written. The first was a fake premiere for S3 of Silicon Valley ( http://bit.ly/1LOZZpT ).

Well, I know what I'm doing tonight. Cheers! This is great.

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

#86

Post by mathattack »

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…

Agree completely. Not only do they need to be shut down, but people should go to jail.

It's strange to see the SEC go after them. It's kind of like putting gangsters away for Tax Evasion. If that's the only thing you can pin on them, I guess you have to go with it, but much better to nail them for the real crimes.

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

#87

Post by nextos »

Animats wrote: post #31

Theranos isn't even at the leading edge of blood testing. There are now hand-held FDA-approved immediate blood testing devices.[1][2][3] Most of these require smaller amounts of blood than a remote lab, although more than a drop. Theranos is still in the send-it-to-the-lab-and-wait era. Even if Theranos' technology eventually works, it may be obsolete before it ships. [1] https://www.abbottpointofcare.com/products-se…

The healthcare industry is quite inefficient at allocating money to things that are needed and have a decent chance of working.

For example, in the field of oncology there's very little money put into cheap accurate early screening. And an almost obsessive pour of money into trying to understand mid-to-late stage cancers. Even James Watson has criticized this.

It's a sad situation, because we now know early pre-clinical tumours leave a trace of circulating DNA in blood. And it seems like a darn important and doable inference problem to distinguish cancer from control patients.

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

#88

Post by ryanwaggoner »

blakeross wrote: post #78
mrdmnd wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just read a 32 page script and now I want you to write major television shows. Is that your actual job? This is really good.

Thank you! Currently it's a hobby; my background is in tech. This is the second script I've written. The first was a fake premiere for S3 of Silicon Valley ( http://bit.ly/1LOZZpT ).

Just wanted to say that I found this so funny when I read it a few months ago (if I remember correctly). You perfectly captured the characters and I could see them saying those exact words.

I'm curious what it takes to break into the world of writing for existing TV shows. Can you sell scripts written on spec for shows like this?

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

#89

Post by zzz157 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #48
wrong_variable wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Someone out there needs to attack healthcare. All the attacking that needs to be done is political/social, not technical. Want to attack healthcare? Strip middlemen out so that the money flows to providers and researchers (Single payer + pouring additional money into the NIH/NSF, with the results being public domain). All of these YC startups I see "hacking" healthcare (Dr Chrono, HealthSherpa, etc) are just bandai…

Single Payer would be great if you can trust the uh, payer. But our government is delightfully corrupt, so I'm sure a lot of people with more rare medical conditions would end up with worse treatment than they can get now.

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

#90

Post by mattzito »

nextos wrote: post #87
Animats wrote: post #31

Theranos isn't even at the leading edge of blood testing. There are now hand-held FDA-approved immediate blood testing devices.[1][2][3] Most of these require smaller amounts of blood than a remote lab, although more than a drop. Theranos is still in the send-it-to-the-lab-and-wait era. Even if Theranos' technology eventually works, it may be obsolete before it ships. [1] https://www.abbottpointofcare.com/products-se…

The healthcare industry is quite inefficient at allocating money to things that are needed and have a decent chance of working. For example, in the field of oncology there's very little money put into cheap accurate early screening. And an almost obsessive pour of money into trying to understand mid-to-late stage cancers. Even James Watson has criticized this. It's a sad situation, because we now know early pre-clini…

> For example, in the field of oncology there's very little money put into cheap accurate early screening. And an almost obsessive pour of money into trying to understand mid-to-late stage cancers. Even James Watson has criticized this.

I'm in no way an expert, but isn't part of that related to increasing evidence that early detection of a tumor isn't necessarily a benefit? I recall reading many tumors stop or grow so slowly that treating them has more of a downside than an upside. This is one of the reasons why early breast cancer screenings aren't a benefit.

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