Betsy DeVos
It’s time for another installment of America’s favorite healthcare soap opera: “As The Theranos Turns.”
When we last checked in on the former unicorn, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich was preparing to sue Theranos for consumer fraud. That’s still pending, as bidding to be Brnovich’s outside counsel on the case doesn’t even open until Jan. 27.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Friday, we learned that Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s controversial nominee to lead the Department of Education, holds a stake in Theranos worth more than $1 million. This is according to documents released by the Office of Government Ethics. However, DeVos reported that her Theranos holdings have brought in less than $201 in income, which would be in line with the public perception that the company is in a tailspin.
DeVos isn’t the only Trump Cabinet pick closely associated with Theranos. Newly installed Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, was on the Theranos Board of Directors until he resigned when he got the Cabinet position.
Theranos last week created a Technology Advisory Board because the company, after all, is in the business of technology. The move seems like a way to bring more academic rigor to the in-development miniLab product.
“The eight-member TAB has had full access to Theranos’ proprietary technologies, associated data and team members,” the Palo Alto, California-based company said. “The board will work alongside Theranos’ leadership and internal research and development teams in various areas, including advising the company on peer-reviewed publication submissions and on presentations at scientific meetings.”
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal continued its muckraking. The paper reported Jan. 17 that Theranos shut down its laboratory in Scottsdale, Arizona, in October after failing an inspection by the Centers for Medicare and Services. The failed inspection had not been previously disclosed to investors and customers, though the lab closure had been.
That means it’s pretty much a certainty that the Edison single-drop-of-blood testing technology that had been the mysterious woman in black’s passion since she quit Stanford University in 2003 is dead. All Theranos has to go on now is miniLab, which the company has said it will market to primary care practices.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect list of the Theranos Board of Directors and incorrectly identified Mattis as a member of the Board of Counselors that the company did away with at the beginning of 2017.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
