Jun 15, 2016 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
The decision means Walgreens will no longer offer Theranos blood-collection services at any of its stores, a move that is expected to cut Theranos’ income sharply because the lab testing company would no longer have a significant source of medical laboratory test volume
Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) is ending its relationship with Theranos Inc. and closing all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers at its stores in Arizona, effective immediately, the national pharmacy chain store company announced on Sunday, June 12. It means that Theranos will no longer be able to collect medical laboratory specimens at pharmacies owned by Walgreens.
This move follows a decision by Walgreens in January that Theranos could no longer send clinical laboratory tests collected at Walgreen’s Wellness Centers to the Theranos lab in Newark, Calif. In the fall, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) cited the Newark lab as the source of serious deficiencies that risked patient harm, CMS said. (See Dark Daily, “CMS Notifies Theranos of CLIA Sanctions That Include Revoking Clinical Laboratory’s CLIA License and a Two-Year Ban on Holmes, Balwani, and Dhawan,” April 14, 2016.) (more…)
Sep 21, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
This secretive start-up medical laboratory testing company has not disclosed how its diagnostic test technology works, nor has it given laboratorians an opportunity to examine the technology
Several internationally-respected clinical laboratory experts are asking serious questions about Theranos and its diagnostic testing technology, and they’ve gotten few answers to date. Though the number of experts is small, their credentials in the clinical laboratory profession are impressive. In addition, some have published their critiques of the start-up medical laboratory company in well-respected medical journals.
One question these clinical pathologists and laboratory directors ask is why Theranos has so far been unwilling to provide more information about the lab testing technology it uses to deliver medical laboratory test results to patients and their referring physicians. Even as the company has declined to speak to the medical laboratory profession, Theranos has mounted a major public relations campaign designed to make a big impression on investors, business partners, and most recently on health insurers.
The clinical laboratory company in Palo Alto, Calif., gets plenty of attention because it claims to have disruptive technology that will allow it to perform medical laboratory tests equivalent to the current standard of care. Theranos says it can do this using a capillary specimen and return results in four hours, while charging a price that is just 50% of Medicare Part B lab test fees. Given these assertions, it is natural that pathologists and laboratory scientists who perform tests for patients, are curious about the scientific basis of Theranos’ proprietary diagnostic technology and what evidence Theranos has developed to support its claims of comparable accuracy and reproducibility. (more…)
