Is hindsight 20/20? Maybe, but not in this case. All that was needed was a good lens cleaner to see what was so clear to many. Read on and you will see why.
Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on 4 charges and sentenced to 11.25 years in prison, while COO Sunny Balwani, was convicted on all charges and sentenced to 14 years.
When one looks back, two things are hiding from the public in plain sight.
First notice all the investors who were swindled by these two in their disgraced blood testing startup, none were the typical Venture capital or private equity firms that invest in cutting edge medical or biotechnology. Notice how many of the investors were statesman, family offices, and wealthy investors outside the medical ecosystem. Moreover, one would assume the likes of Thermo Fischer, Becton Dickinson would take a minority stake in these companies with the hope of acquiring them eventually. Nope, they ran the other way. Why you may ask? This leads me to my second point.
In life sciences, as in most industries, there is a proof of concept. Some genius in a lab discovers a mutation, a biomarker, a signal and before you know everyone pounces on it. Look no further than PD-1 and PD-L1s with 93 bispecific antibodies in development targeting PD1/PDL1. Why because it probably works. In Theranos’ case—nobody, including the big names in the industry with decades of experience, thousands of scientists could run 200 tests on a drop of blood. But these two charlatans could! And the Silicon Valley old adage of “fake it till you make it” might be acceptable for benign software but not when peoples’ blood results hang in the balance.
