Patient Engagement

Safeway brushes off Theranos, enlists local lab for DTC testing in Arizona

Clearly determined to offer direct-to-consumer lab testing through pharmacies, grocery chain Safeway seems to be shaking off the reported demise of a partnership with not-so-revolutionary-after-all Theranos and entering into a deal with a proven company in the Phoenix area.

Take that, Theranos!

Clearly determined to offer direct-to-consumer lab testing through pharmacies, grocery chain Safeway seems to be shaking off the reported demise of a partnership with the not-so-revolutionary-after-all testing company and entering into a deal with a proven company in the Phoenix area. That happens to be one of two metro areas where Theranos opened testing centers at Walgreens walk-in clinics before the pharmacy giant paused a planned national rollout a month ago.

According to the Arizona Republic, Sonora Quest Laboratories, a joint venture of Quest Diagnostics and Phoenix’s Banner Health, has opened its first testing center at a Safeway in tony Scottsdale, Arizona. A second one will open next week in an upscale part of Phoenix, in the shadow of the Arizona Biltmore resort. (Draw your own conclusions about which market segment Safeway is targeting.)

The arrangement makes sense, given that Pleasanton, California-based Safeway supposedly spent $350 million on establishing a network of more than 800 retail clinics in anticipation of offering Theranos blood tests there, and that Sonora Quest has been marketing a handful of DTC tests for the last few months. Sonora Quest was able to do so after Theranos successfully lobbied for a change to Arizona law earlier this year to allow people to get bloodwork done without a doctor’s order.

Safeway confirmed the first two testing centers to the Phoenix newspaper, but neither it nor Sonora Quest would comment on expansion plans. The lab company’s medical director said Sonora Quest limits the types of DTC tests it provides, but the partnership allows for a wide range of physician-ordered tests at the Safeway locations.

Theranos, of Palo Alto, California, gave the Arizona Republic a statement suggesting that recent setbacks are temporary.

“Theranos has defined the accessible lab testing model in Arizona, as the first to create retail-based wellness centers and as the only lab that championed historic legislation that now allows direct access to that lab testing,” according to the statement. “We are confident in the strength of our provider and retail partnerships and look forward to continued expansion in Arizona and elsewhere.”

The supposed $9 billion valuation doesn’t hurt, either, though the unicorn has been seen sporting bandages of late.

Photo: Flickr user Mike Mozart

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