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Theranos

theranos.com

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101–110 of 127 posts

Re: Theranos

#101

Post by pbreit »

mr_luc wrote: post #97
spartango wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This board seems heavily geared to do deals for defense-related applications. That's fine; getting deals with the Armed Forces and VA is feasible and quite rewarding. What they overtly lack is connections to the healthcare world. I'm surprised they aren't publicly roped into Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic or Kaiser, as they to support novel technologies in this space. I suppose you can argue that the business model is…

Serious question: what economic incentive does the healthcare world have to adopt something like this? If it's a finger prick, there's less to mark up. From the outside, it seems like the entire healthcare industry is built on being purposefully inefficient so as to create large costs that they can in turn mark up. To the VA, inefficiency is a problem. In the healthcare world in general, it doesn't seem to bother any…

That's a rather cynical view. You don't think hospitals have any incentive to improve care, implement new products or cut costs?

Re: Theranos

#102

Post by cypherpunks01 »

Just today, I was just searching around for a way to order my own Quest lab tests here in the US. (I'm on the East Coast, Theranos doesn't seem to have locations here)

Does anyone know of any e-doctors that will provide me with lab orders on my behalf? I've seen WellnessFX, but I want to order Quest panels for things they don't offer in their package. Who else is doing something similar to them?

Re: Theranos

#103

Post by pbreit »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #84
justinjlynn wrote: post #10

Theranos is a medical laboratory that appears to have developed new methods of measuring lab values in small sample sizes more quickly. This is interesting because it means that instead of a traditional blood draw with a needle and vial requiring a trained phlebotomist and healthy veins, physicians can use blood collected from a finger stick -- a far less invasive and painful procedure. Additionally, it appears that…

That is a pretty stunning board of directors as well. I don't doubt their CEO can get an introduction to, and lunch with, nearly anyone on the planet.

The BOD (or "Board" as the company calls it) seems a little strange to me as if she runs in rarified circles. While I'm sure folks of such stature could provide some assistance, I have a hard time believing they are acting under traditional BOD-like activities. And where's the management team or is this a one-person affair?

Re: Theranos

#104

Post by spartango »

rschmitty wrote: post #98
spartango wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that they are going up against massive, automated operations like those of Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics ($9B market cap each), they'll probably need this tech to keep up. While the thumb-prick and low sample volumes are cool, in the grand scheme of patient care they are somewhat gimmicky. Until doctors request higher-frequency testing, this doesn't pinch that hard. Still cool. The big sign that they need to be…

Low volume samples are important in pediatrics at least (wife a Dr) At the hospital she works all of their samples are low volume already. Plus critical kids get ffrequent samples depending on the level of monitoring needed. For babies you obviously have no choice or they could become anemic. Plus not all kids like seeing a vial fill up.

Ah yea, I forgot about this application. It's definitely a good one, although for some reason Theranos isn't explicit about targeting it.

Re: Theranos

#105

Post by jboydyhacker »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #84
justinjlynn wrote: post #10

Theranos is a medical laboratory that appears to have developed new methods of measuring lab values in small sample sizes more quickly. This is interesting because it means that instead of a traditional blood draw with a needle and vial requiring a trained phlebotomist and healthy veins, physicians can use blood collected from a finger stick -- a far less invasive and painful procedure. Additionally, it appears that…

That is a pretty stunning board of directors as well. I don't doubt their CEO can get an introduction to, and lunch with, nearly anyone on the planet.

That BOD is stunning with heavy national security/ military operations. I almost thought it was a CIA cover company.

The application is interesting.

Re: Theranos

#106

Post by caycep »

jedc wrote: post #91
ChuckMcM wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a pretty stunning board of directors as well. I don't doubt their CEO can get an introduction to, and lunch with, nearly anyone on the planet.

Fascinating that they're all national security related, except for the ex-CEO of Wells Fargo. I'm honestly curious how that came about...

maybe some sort of outgrowth from rapid triage/battlefield medicine tech? I know there's been a lot of pentagon efforts to figure out how to treat soldiers in the field more quickly, but mostly with trauma applications.

Re: Theranos

#107

Post by caycep »

spartango wrote: post #92
justinjlynn wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the volumes they're dealing with and the automation they tout I bet they're using integrated microfluidic chips with built in sensor technology. That's so cool and it makes sense given the time they spent in stealth mode since that's a rather new technology and getting it certified must've taken some time. Looking a patents and bingo, they have patents on microfluidic techniques. Awesome. Eventually they might h…

Given that they are going up against massive, automated operations like those of Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics ($9B market cap each), they'll probably need this tech to keep up. While the thumb-prick and low sample volumes are cool, in the grand scheme of patient care they are somewhat gimmicky. Until doctors request higher-frequency testing, this doesn't pinch that hard. Still cool. The big sign that they need to be…

Have you set foot inside a Quest or Labcorp location? They are pretty terrible. Definitely a disruptable space...

Re: Theranos

#108

Post by caycep »

redschell wrote: post #74
benrapscallion wrote: post #46

it's weird how the founders' background is all about "dropped out from here" and "dropped out from there". Is dropping out an achievement?

It's always been a gamble. If you achieve even a modicum of success or notoriety, your "drop out" status becomes incredibly valuable. You're a trailblazer, a rebel who blew past convention on her way to glory. If you fail, you're an arrogant idiot who thought she was too cool for school. What's fascinating about Holmes is that she's a drop out in the biotech/health care realm. This has long been considered a protecte…

It sounds like she dropped out in 2003 to work "in biotech" so she's probably working on this for the past decade. That she's gotten to this stage is pretty impressive - considering the board, plus the "careers" page and the type of folks they're looking for right now looks like they're off and running

Re: Theranos

#110

Post by [deleted] »

spartango wrote: post #94
ChuckMcM wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a pretty stunning board of directors as well. I don't doubt their CEO can get an introduction to, and lunch with, nearly anyone on the planet.

This board seems heavily geared to do deals for defense-related applications. That's fine; getting deals with the Armed Forces and VA is feasible and quite rewarding. What they overtly lack is connections to the healthcare world. I'm surprised they aren't publicly roped into Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic or Kaiser, as they to support novel technologies in this space. I suppose you can argue that the business model is…

[deleted]
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