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Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

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UK Clinical Laboratory Operations Suspended Following Reports of 43,000 False Negative COVID-19 PCR Test Results Over Five-Week Span

Medical laboratory company’s patients in Southwest England previously had tested positive for COVID-19 on a Lateral Flow Device

If providing accurate test results is key to maintaining trust with healthcare consumers, a private COVID-19 testing laboratory in the United Kingdom (UK) may have permanently damaged its reputation after reporting an estimated 43,000 false negative COVID-19 RT-PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test results over a five-week span between September 8, 2021, and October 12, 2021.

For now, Immensa Health Clinic Ltd., a subsidiary of DNA testing company Dante Labs, had its testing operations suspended on October 15 while the UK Health Security Agency (UKSA) investigates the cause of false negative PCR test results from the company’s lab in Wolverhampton, England. The test results went out to people who previously had tested positive for COVID-19 on a lateral flow device (LFD).

“We have recently seen a rising number of positive LFD results subsequently testing negative on PCR. As a result of our investigation, we are working with NHS Test and Trace and the company to determine the laboratory technical issues which have led to inaccurate PCR results being issued to people. We have immediately suspended testing at this laboratory while we continue the investigation,” said Will Welfare, MBChB, Public Health Incident Director, UK Health Security Agency, in a UKHSA statement.

“There is no evidence of any faults with LFD or PCR test kits themselves and the public should remain confident in using them and in other laboratory services currently provided,” he added.

UK Government Officials Question How Lab Won Lucrative COVID-19 Testing Contracts

Immensa was awarded a £119 million (US$163.37 million) coronavirus testing contract by the British government in October 2020, just months after it was founded by Andrea Riposati, owner/CEO of Dante Labs, which has clinical laboratories in the UK, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates. The company’s corporate headquarters are in New York City while its scientific operations are based in the UK.

In “UK Ministers Face Questions over Firm Linked to Suspected COVID Test Errors,” The Guardian reported the private lab won an additional £50 million (US$68.6 million) contract from the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) last July.

Jonathan Ashworth

“Serious questions have to be asked about how this private firm—[which] didn’t exist before May 2020—was awarded a lucrative £120 million (US$164.64 million) contract to run this lab,” Member of Parliament (MP) Jonathan Ashworth (above), Labor Party Shadow Health Secretary, told The Guardian. “From duff PPE [personal protective equipment] to failing test kits, ministers have sprayed around tax money like confetti and utterly failed to deliver the service people deserve,” he added. (Photo copyright: The Mirror.)

NHS Test and Trace, the government program to track and help prevent the spread of COVID-19, has advised people who received the false test results, but who may still be infectious, to be retested.

In responding to the UKHSA’s action, Riposati pointed to Immensa’s track record and reiterated the laboratory’s emphasis on quality.

“We are fully collaborating with UKHSA on this matter. Quality is paramount for us,” Riposati said in the UKHSA statement. “We have proudly analyzed more than 2.5 million samples for NHS Test and Trace, working closely with the great teams at DHSC and UKHSA. We do not wish this matter or anything else to tarnish the amazing work done by the UK in this pandemic.”

Clinical Laboratories Not Accredited to Perform COVID-19 Testing

However, on October 18, 2021, The Guardian reported that the Immensa Health Clinic was not accredited by the UKAS, the UK’s independent accreditation service, before being appointed to perform COVID-19 testing. Dante Labs also has not been awarded UKAS accreditation, according to the newspaper report.

Government officials previously maintained that Immensa was “accredited to all of the appropriate standards.”

Immensa first made headlines in January 2021 when The Sun published an expose´ that included video of employees fighting, drinking, and bragging about watching porn while working at the clinical laboratory.

News of the testing failure at Immensa caused Tory MP Nigel Mills to tell The Sun, “This place should have been shut down for good when The Sun ran its [original] story. It is shocking it has been allowed to remain open and now there is an enormous mess.

“It’s a disgrace,” he added. “If shortcomings have emerged in the process here—which I strongly imagine they have—then heads should roll. The investigation should widen out and an audit should be carried out into other testing companies.”

Dante Labs Under Other Investigations

Immensa’s parent company, Dante Labs, is also under investigation in the UK due to concerns the company “may be treating its customers unfairly.”

A statement from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), outlined the UK government’s probe into Dante Labs. The statement cited the lab for:

  • Potentially not delivering PCR tests and/or results on time or at all,
  • Failing to respond to complaints or provide proper customer service,
  • Refusing or delaying refunds when requested, and
  • Providing terms and conditions that may unfairly limit consumers’ rights.

According to The Guardian, Dante Labs’ US operation also faced scrutiny in 2018 after the company admitting it had sent five used DNA test kits to people containing the saliva of other people. Dante Labs maintained its shipping company was the cause of the error.

US Labs Also Face Scrutiny over False Negative Test Results

Since the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in early 2020, there have been only a limited number of news accounts about clinical laboratories that reported a substantial number of inaccurate COVID-19 test results, either in the United States or the United Kingdom. In the US, there has been more news coverage of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecuting lab owners and related parties for submitting fraudulent claims for COVID-19 tests.

But the absence of those news accounts does not mean that there have been no incidents in the US where a lab testing company reported significant numbers of inaccurate COVID-19 test results.

In 2020, for example, Dark Daily reported on how Abbott Lab’s ID NOW COVID-19 rapid molecular test faced scrutiny over false negatives resulting in the FDA issuing a public warning about the point-of-care test’s accuracy after receiving 15 “adverse event reports” indicating some patients were receiving “false negative results.”

Then on June 22, 2020, KHN reported that the FDA had “received a total of 106 reports of adverse events for the Abbott test, a staggering increase. The agency has not received a single adverse event report for any other point-of-care tests meant to diagnose COVID-19.”

The UK lab’s failures are simply the latest example of how inaccurate test results erode the trust of healthcare consumers and draw the ire of politicians and government regulators. In this case, however, poor government oversight of a newly minted COVID-19 testing laboratory should face equal scrutiny. 

—Andrea Downing Peck

Related Information:

UK Lab Investigated for False Negative COVID Tests Is Not Fully Accredited

COVID PCR Tests: At Least 43,000 in UK May Have Had False Negatives

Testing at Private Lab Suspended Following NHS Test and Trace Investigation

UK Ministers Face Questions over Firm Linked to Suspected COVID Test Errors

CMA Continues Action in the PCR Testing Market

‘Lives at Risk’ Workers at COVID Testing Centre Shown ‘Fighting, Boozing and Snoozing’ in Shocking Video  

Taking the PCR! Thousands Must Retake COVID Tests after Dodgy Lab Exposed by The Sun Gave False Negatives

A DNA Testing Start-Up Sent Used Kits Filled with Spit to Some Customers, an Example of Growing Pains in a New Industry

Theranos Founder and Former CEO Elizabeth Holmes’ Federal Criminal Fraud Trial Finally Is Under Way in California

Court documents show Holmes’ defense strategy includes accusing ex-boyfriend and former COO Balwani of ‘intimate partner abuse’ that impacted her ‘state of mind’

It has started! The long-awaited criminal trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is underway in a federal courthouse in Silicon Valley. Across the profession of medical laboratory medicine, there is keen interest in the story of Holmes and her now-defunct clinical laboratory company Theranos.

This next chapter in the drama began on September 8 with opening arguments. Federal prosecutors came out strong, claiming Holmes was “a manipulative fraudster who duped investors and patients alike and knew the whole time that she was hoodwinking them,” according to NPR.

“This is a case about fraud, about lying, and cheating to get money,” said Assistant US Attorney Robert Leach, NPR reported. “It’s a crime on Main Street, and it’s a crime in Silicon Valley,” he added.

Not surprisingly, Holmes’ defense team had a different take, claiming Holmes was simply “a hardworking, young startup executive who believed in the mission of the company, only to see it buckle in the face of business obstacles,” NPR reported. “They argued that she placed blind faith in the No. 2 executive at the company [Balwani] and overly trusted lab directors, who the defense team says were legally responsible for how the labs were run.”

Holmes Claims Abuse at the Hands of Former Theranos COO Balwani

Many pathologists and clinical laboratory managers are ready to watch and learn what unfolds in the opening stages of Holmes’ long-delayed federal criminal fraud trial. During the jury selection process, recently unsealed court documents showed that Holmes’ defense planned to include claims she was abused by her then boyfriend, Theranos Chief Operating Officer Ramesh Balwani.

This surprising development adds yet another twist to the tale of the disgraced Silicon Valley executive and her defunct clinical laboratory testing company.

The hype surrounding the once-high flying startup, which in 2015 reached a peak valuation of $9 billion, began unraveling that same year when a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) investigation exposed the company’s alleged deceptions and questionable practices related to its finger-prick blood-testing technology.

Fast-forward six years—Theranos is now gone but its top executive continues to make headlines, not as a laboratory science wunderkind, but as a criminal defendant.

Holmes, 37, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Her former consort and ex-Theranos COO Ramesh Balwani also pleaded not guilty to all charges. He will be tried separately from Holmes.

Elizabeth Holmes and her husband William Evans

Elizabeth Holmes, founder and former CEO of defunct clinical laboratory testing company Theranos, is seen leaving the Robert F. Peckham US Courthouse with husband William Evans following opening arguments in her federal trial on September 8. (Photo copyright: Reuters/Peter DaSilva.)

Dozens of Potential Jurors Removed for Alleged Bias

On August 31, in-person questioning of prospective jurors began in Holmes’ federal fraud trial in San Jose, California. The process did not go well. As CNBC reported, dozens of potential jurors were removed from the jury pool due to potential bias in the case.

“Thirty to forty of the remaining jurors have consumed substantial, and I mean lengthy extrajudicial material, about the case and about the defendant,” defense attorney Kevin Downey, JD of Washington, D.C.-based Williams and Connolly, LLP, told Judge Edward Davila, CNBC reported. “We’re very vulnerable to any of the jurors commenting in some ways as either the court or lawyers conduct voir dire about the content of the media they’ve seen.”

Voir dire is the legal term for preliminary examinations of jurors, which in this initial screening was done by reviewing potential juror questionnaires.

Holmes’ defense attorneys, according to CNBC, previously expressed concerns about “inflammatory” media coverage of the case. However, Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Schenk maintained, “Less than half of the individuals that filled out the questionnaire had prior exposure to Holmes and Balwani. One juror saying something during the voir dire process that could be overheard is a risk in every court case,” CNBC reported.

Holmes Claims ‘Mental Condition Bearing on Guilt’

A report by the Independent notes that newly unsealed court documents which were first reported by NPR reveal that Holmes will mount a defense that includes claims of “intimate partner abuse” by Balwani, 56, during their past relationship.

 “The documents show that Ms. Holmes will describe how Mr. Balwani controlled what she ate and drank, how she dressed, and who she spoke to, while also alleging he threw ‘sharp’ objects at her,” the Independent reported.

NPR reported that court documents indicate Holmes is likely to take the stand and testify at her trial. She will not be presenting an insanity defense but will put forth a “defense of a mental condition bearing on guilt” that was the result of partner abuse and that impacted her “state of mind” at the time of the alleged crimes.

Court documents filed by Balwani’s defense attorneys label Holmes’ allegations as “salacious and inflammatory.”

“In truth, Ms. Holmes’ allegations are deeply offensive to Mr. Balwani, devastating personally to him and highly and unfairly prejudicial to his defense of this case,” defense attorney Jeffrey Coopersmith, JD, Principle and founder of Coopersmith Law and Strategy, wrote in the filing.

The Theranos Saga Continues …

In “Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes Is Pregnant, Causing a Further Delay in Her Trial Date,” Dark Daily reported that Holmes’ trial had been delayed multiple times since she was first was indicted on 11 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently Holmes’ pregnancy, delayed the start of her trial until August.

CNBC reported that Holmes gave birth on July 10, 2021, in Redwood, California. The baby’s father is William Evans, heir to the Evans Hotels chain in California, The Sun reported.

Balwani’s criminal fraud trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on January 11, 2022. Both Holmes and Balwani face maximum penalties of 20 years in jail and a nearly $3 million fine, plus possible restitution if found guilty on all counts.

It is a rare thing for owners of a clinical laboratory company accused of fraud to come to trial and receive so much media attention. In the weeks leading up to the trial, medical laboratory managers and pathologists could read a wide variety of news stories about the impending trial and the legal strategies expected by the attorneys for both the plaintiffs and the defendants.

Thus, everyone interested in this trial and its outcome will likely have the equivalent of a front row seat because so many journalists are covering this trial.

Andrea Downing Peck

Related Information

Hot Startup Theranos Has Struggled with Its Blood-Testing Technology

Dozens of Potential Jurors in Elizabeth Holmes Trial Cut for Potential Bias

Case 5:18-cr-00258-EJD Document 973

Case 5:18-cr-00258-EJD Document 976

Elizabeth Holmes Claims Abuse by Ex-Boyfriend Who Controlled What She Ate in Theranos Fraud Trial Defense

Elizabeth Holmes Plans to Accuse Ex-Boyfriend of Abuse at Theranos Fraud Trial

Elizabeth Holmes Gives Birth as Fraud Theranos Fraud Trial Nears

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes Is Pregnant, Causing a Further Delay in Her Trial Date

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