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Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

wsj.com

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Re: Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

#21

Post by rubyfan »

bane wrote: post #16

Walgreens managers also grew increasingly frustrated in recent weeks with Theranos as they sought information about the extent of test reports it had corrected or voided. This seems to be a common thread in the stories I've read about Theranos, an almost pathological inability to provide basic information upon request. I can only guess that Holmes' notion of open and transparent communication is defined very differen…

It's been my experience that those who talk about transparency and openness are usually the ones most trying to lie, cheat and steal the most.

Re: Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

#22

Post by pkaye »

forgetsusername wrote: post #15
GuiA wrote: post #2

The Theranos leadership belongs in jail. Misleading patients with bullshit medical science ranks pretty high up on the list of things that should get executives locked up. We are talking about tens of thousands of patients here whose doctors made medical choices based on fundamentally flawed blood work, all while Holmes and her buddies were boasting about how disruptive their technology was, how much better they were…

> The Theranos leadership belongs in jail Let's ensure that actual crimes have been committed before we go throwing people in jail.

Perhaps civil forfeiture? Because apparently it is okay to do it to individuals.

Re: Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

#23

Post by foobarian »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #19
FreedomToCreate wrote: post #4

It still baffles me that Walgreens got into this partnership in the first place. A complete failure of due diligence.

Well yes and no. Remember that they have a really well connected board of directors and a lot of people put their reputation out there based on information they believed to be true. The managers at Walgreens don't know how to design, validate, and certify laboratory tests and procedures so they are kind of at the mercy of the folks who tell them they do. And while it would have been within their rights to send an out…

It's still surprising that it was possible at all to start doing this without some proof of work. There are better checks and balances for something as mundane as selling lettuce or holding money deposits; why not blood testing?

Re: Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

#24

Post by ycombobreaker »

pkaye wrote: post #22
forgetsusername wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Theranos leadership belongs in jail Let's ensure that actual crimes have been committed before we go throwing people in jail.

Perhaps civil forfeiture? Because apparently it is okay to do it to individuals.

Let's not legitimize that behavior.

Re: Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

#25

Post by _audakel »

1 - Theranos should have been more transparent, but what startup doesn't stretch the truth or even leave out data on occasion? It is a fine line between lying and hustling. Startups can often talk about something that doesn't exist yet like it does because they can move fast enough to build it.

2 - I worked at a medical startup in Palo Alto and I can attest that it is incredibly hard complying with all the FDA rules. Many are regulations that do little to protect consumers and exist from an outdated bureaucratic system. Others are lobbied into existence by big players like JNJ to protect themselves from startups like Theranos.

3 - Theranos was trying to do something that few people do - truly inovate in the medical world. As a country we have come to a point where little inovation is possilbe bc so many rules prevent the change necessary. We are not willing to accept any risk, and so we are stuck without progress.

4 - Before we all hop on the hate Theranos band wagon, lets remember that they did what all startups do - move fast and break things.

Re: Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

#26

Post by 1138 »

wpietri wrote: post #8
GuiA wrote: post #2

The Theranos leadership belongs in jail. Misleading patients with bullshit medical science ranks pretty high up on the list of things that should get executives locked up. We are talking about tens of thousands of patients here whose doctors made medical choices based on fundamentally flawed blood work, all while Holmes and her buddies were boasting about how disruptive their technology was, how much better they were…

I agree that Theranos's leadership belongs in jail. But I think it's worth reflecting a bit on how much our community created and benefits from the tech-genius hype cycle that they exploited. On how much we have supported a mythos that our cutting-edge innovations can't be judged by existing stick-in-the-mud regulators. I'm not saying that those are entirely bad things. But it's worth remembering that Theranos couldn…

What does their blood test tech not working have to do with regulators?

Re: Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

#27

Post by jalonso510 »

aresant wrote: post #12

"In recent weeks, Walgreens also was named as a co-defendant in one of three civil lawsuits filed by consumers against Theranos. The suits, which seek class-action status, allege that Theranos misled the public about the nature and accuracy of its blood-testing technology." Walgreens had an official partnership, including an investment of $50m, into Theranos. If there is actual consumer damage shown its Walgreens tha…

Who's writing the checks really depends on what's in the contract between Walgreens and Theranos. I haven't seen it, but it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for Theranos to have agreed to indemnify Walgreens against claims over the accuracy of the tests. If so, Theranos would be on the hook even if Walgreens is getting sued as well, and the real question is how big the claims are and whether they will be enough to to bankrupt Theranos.

Re: Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

#28

Post by readams »

GuiA wrote: post #2

The Theranos leadership belongs in jail. Misleading patients with bullshit medical science ranks pretty high up on the list of things that should get executives locked up. We are talking about tens of thousands of patients here whose doctors made medical choices based on fundamentally flawed blood work, all while Holmes and her buddies were boasting about how disruptive their technology was, how much better they were…

Fortunately we have a system of law and not based on outrage.

Re: Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

#29

Post by ekianjo »

personjerry wrote: post #10
jzwinck wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like Japan but I'm not sure you should hold it out here as an example of good corporate behavior: http://scmp.com/business/companies/article/1880094/partial-t...

IIRC a number of Japan's corporations still work fairly closely with the Yakuza, don't they?

Yes, even politicians.

Re: Walgreen Terminates Partnership with Theranos

#30

Post by tlb »

grizzles wrote: post #6

It's shocking to find out that a science education is actually pretty useful for leading a science company. DFJ and the other investors should be getting way more of the blame for not doing proper due diligence on Theranos. It's kind of amazing in a way that the company is still a going concern. There is going to be no salvaging this company, because it has nothing of value. What a shmozzle.

On the other hand, out of the top 5 pharma companies, only 3/5 CEOs have science degrees: (Edit: was 1, wasn't counting medical degrees before)

  #1: Novartis: Economics, MBA
  #2: Pfizer: BS chemical engineering, chartered accountancy
  #3: Roche: economics, law
  #4: Sanofi: MD
  #5: Merck: veterinary medicine, PhD
So a person who didn't know any better might not assume a science degree was necessary.
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