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Theranos Trial: Elizabeth Holmes Expresses Regret

SAN JOSE, Calif. –

Biotech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes, a former billionaire accused of the technique being a major medical fraud, expressed some regret in standing before the witness on Tuesday, but denied trying to conceal that. Her company’s blood tests didn’t work as she promised.

In testimony on Tuesday in her high-profile criminal trial, Holmes admitted to making a number of mistakes as CEO of Theranos, the company she founded in 2003 at the age of 19. of other executives and a respected panel of former cabinet members from various presidential administrations.

Holmes, now 37, also made it clear that she does not cease to believe that Theranos will revolutionize healthcare with a technology that is said to be able to detect a variety of diseases and other problems. just by testing a few drops of blood.

“It never went well,” she testified. “There are always challenges.”

Theranos eventually fell apart after an explosive series of articles in The Wall Street Journal and an audit of federal regulators discovered serious and potentially dangerous flaws in its reviews. company blood test. The scandal wiped out Holmes’ fortune, estimated at US$4.5 billion in 2014 when she was the subject of a dazzling cover story in Fortune.

Holmes denied that she intended to mislead anyone about the company’s partnership with Walgreens, which aims to install Theranos testers in 3,000 of the pharmacy chain’s stores. Walgreens ended that partnership after problems with inaccurate test results and discovered that Theranos was testing many of its samples on conventional diagnostic equipment — not its Edison equipment. Theranos, which is said to offer faster and less expensive testing.

Holmes said that when Theranos was about to start running tests in Walgreens stores, she intentionally sent them to a central lab for routine analysis. Holmes stated that Edison was not designed to operate in large clusters to process large quantities of blood samples.

Her testimony contrasts with earlier witness testimony and prosecutors’ accusations that Theranos turned to conventional testing because of test failures and other problems with Edison. Theranos never told its customers that they were using conventional test equipment instead of Edison.

Holmes testified that Theranos kept quiet because they had created an “invention” that could process small blood samples on conventional testing machines. The company didn’t tell Walgreens or anyone else to protect that trade secret from possible theft by a larger and established testing company, she claimed. “They have more engineers than we do,” says Holmes.

A key question remains in Holmes’ testimony – whether she will settle her claim in legal filings that she is being manipulated by her former lover and former Theranos chief executive, Sunny Balwani. covertly into unethical behavior or not.

In unsealed court documents shortly before the trial began in early September, Holmes’ attorneys allege Balwani pressed Holmes to “intimate partner abuse”. Balwani, who faces a separate fraud trial next year, has denied those charges through his attorney.

According to Holmes, Balwani also made a series of financial projections that were at the heart of the trial. In documents distributed to potential investors, Theranos forecast annual sales of $140 million in 2014 and $990 million in 2015. Further evidence presented during the trial. Experience shows that the company never comes close to achieving those goals.

Holmes corroborated a 2015 revenue prediction that was largely based on a projected expansion into Walgreens stores that never materialized.

The former Theranos CEO has taken on the responsibility of adding the logo of Pfizer, a major drugmaker, to a report praising the effectiveness of Theranos’ technology. That decision came after an internal Pfizer report that Holmes said she had never seen cast doubt on the reliability of Theranos’ blood tests.

“I wish I had done it differently,” said Holmes. Several investors testified that seeing the Pfizer logo on the report helped convince them to invest in Theranos.

Holmes raised nearly $1 billion after founding Theranos in 2003. She faces charges of defrauding investors, patients and business partners while running the Palo Alto, California, company. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.

Holmes has so far spent eight hours in the stands and will not return until Monday, when the trial resumes after a break for the Thanksgiving break.

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