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Hulu announces two new Marvel shows including 'Ghost Rider'
Under an expanded deal with Marvel (which is under the wing of its majority owner Disney), Hulu has announced Ghost Rider and Helstrom shows, both of which are set to debut next year. They join other Marvel series including Runaways and several upcoming animated shows on the platform.
HBO documentary on Theranos' rise and fall premieres March 18th
You may be familiar with the gist of Theranos' rapid rise and equally rapid decline, but HBO is betting that you don't know the whole story. The broadcaster is premiering a documentary on the former medical technology darling, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, on March 18th. It's directed by Going Clear's Alex Gibney and aims to shine a new light on Elizabeth Holmes' company using "insider footage" as well as interviews with people directly involved in the saga, including whistleblower employees and the Wall Street Journal reporter who uncovered the scandal.
Elizabeth Holmes steps down as Theranos CEO as DOJ levels charges
CNBC is reporting that Elizabeth Holmes has stepped down from her position as CEO of Theranos and the Department of Justice has indicted her on alleged wire fraud. Both the company and Holmes have been embroiled in scandal following reports that the blood tests it claimed to be working on weren't actually effective. Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Holmes and Theranos with fraud.
Theranos’ video game stars the reporter who exposed the company
Last week, Business Insider reported that employees of the troubled startup Theranos had created a Space Invaders-style video game featuring the Wall Street Journal's John Carreyrou as a target. Carreyrou began reporting on the company in 2015 and revealed that Theranos was misleading investors about its technology. Theranos and CEO Elizabeth Holmes said the company could test just a small drop of blood for a number of diseases -- claims the company was never able to back up and eventually led to massive financial troubles, employee layoffs and fraud charges from the SEC. Today, Business Insider shared a video of employees playing the video game at the company.
SEC charges Theranos and CEO Elizabeth Holmes with ‘massive fraud’
The SEC has charged Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani with fraud relating to the startup's fundraising activities. The company, as well as CEO Holmes and former president Balwani are said to have raised more than $700 million from investors through "an elaborate, years-long fraud." This involved making "false statements about the company's technology, business and financial performance."
Theranos avoids bankruptcy thanks to a last-minute loan
Theranos has come a long way from the days when it was a darling in the biotech industry. The Wall Street Journal's sources have claimed that the blood-testing firm has avoided bankruptcy by securing a $100 million loan from Fortress Investment Group. The move should keep Theranos afloat "through 2018," founder Elizabeth Holmes reportedly said in an email. Naturally, though, there are strings attached -- Fortress wants to see a return on its investment.
Theranos settles Walgreens lawsuit with 'no finding of liability'
Theranos, the lab testing and equipment company, has had a bad couple of years. The company has been accused of all sorts of wrongdoing, including fake test results and false claims of "innovative" laboratory equipment. Last November, drugstore Walgreens sued the beleaguered corporation for a reported $140 million, the details of which were sealed behind several non-disclosure agreements. Today, however, Theranos has announced a "confidential settlement agreement" with Walgreens that apparently "resolves all claims among those parties."
Theranos is laying off another 155 employees
Just three months after the company laid off 340 employees, Theranos' workforce is being slashed again. The company announced today that it will part ways with another 155 employees, leaving the current Theranos headcount at 220.
Theranos had an awful year, and it only has itself to blame
Theranos was -- is -- a blood-testing startup that promised to identify illnesses from a single drop of blood. Its innovative hardware, called Edison, could quickly spot diseases without the need for vials of blood. It was so revolutionary that pharmacy chain Walgreens partnered with the startup to offer "wellness centers" inside its stores. Except the biology and technology that underpinned Theranos' business was possibly junk, and the company spent the bulk of 2016 trying to convince everyone that it wasn't a massive con.
Two more investors sue Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes for fraud
Two more investors have filed lawsuits (PDF) against Theranos, a few weeks after Walgreens sued the embattled startup for $140 million. This is the third one filed against the company, following the drugstore chain's and Partner Fund Management's (PFM), but the first that's seeking class-action status. The plaintiffs echo PFM's lawsuit from October, accusing Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and former president Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani of spoon-feeding investors continuous lies, making false promises "built on false statements and omissions." They said the company's head honchos told the public they perfected a "revolutionary technology" vetted by experts and regulators that will change the world of lab testing, knowing full well that it'll reach investors' ears.
Theranos intros new 'fingerprick' testing tech despite its woes
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has introduced a 95-pound testing device called "miniLab" at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry meeting in Philadelphia. The controversial blood testing company, which promised results with just a fingerprick, has been in hot water ever since The Wall Street Journal published a series of articles detailing its flawed results and other issues. In fact, it voided its past test results and lost its contract with Walgreens over the past few months. Holmes was also banned from owning a lab for two years. That's why the convention's the attendees were expecting a presentation clarifying the science behind its fingerprick-testing technique, according to Bloomberg.
Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes banned from owning a lab
Spoiler warning in case you don't want to know how the movie will probably end: the Wall Street Journal reports US regulators have devised to ban the owners and operators of Theranos from running a lab for two years. That includes CEO & founder Elizabeth Holmes, as confirmed by a press release issued tonight. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revoked the lab's Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certificate and imposed a civil money penalty for an unspecified amount.
Walgreens is done with Theranos
After months of screaming at Theranos to clean up its act, Walgreens has formally ended its partnership with the blood testing startup. The pharmacy chain said that the CMS' recent rejection of Theranos' recovery plan and the looming threat of sanctions forced the relationship to end. Walgreens will now close all 40 of its remaining Theranos Wellness Centers in Arizona and "transition" customers to more reliable testing methods. Such as casting bones, consulting the tree spirits or looking at your wrist and then just guessing what's wrong with yourself. Walgreens was Theranos' main source of business, and without those retail locations, it's not clear how the startup is going to survive.
Jennifer Lawrence signs on for big screen Theranos adaptation
The story of blood-testing startup Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes' meteoric rise and fall from grace is already getting the Hollywood treatment. As Deadline Hollywood reports today, Jennifer Lawrence will play the part of Holmes, who at one point seemed to be one of Silicon Valley's biggest success stories, worth about $4.5 billion for her 50% stake in the company. That all came crashing down once the Wall Street Journal started raising concerns that Theranos' main product was unreliable and not actually approved by the FDA.
WSJ: Theranos is voiding and revising past blood test results
As Theranos faces increased scrutiny from regulators, tonight the Wall Street Journal is reporting the company is taking an extraordinary step by voiding its own blood test results going back two years. According to the Journal, the company is telling the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that it has issued "tens of thousands" of corrected blood test reports, covering results that have been revised or voided altogether.
Theranos loses its COO as it seeks to improve quality
What can Theranos do to restore confidence in its company and the suddenly-in-doubt finger prick blood tests it hoped would revolutionize the industry? It's hard to say, but tonight it's trying to turn things around by announcing some executive reshuffling. COO and president Sunny Balwani (who, along with CEO and founder Elizabeth Holmes is reportedly facing a ban from the blood testing industry) will retire.
Feds begin criminal investigation against Theranos
In a letter addressed to its partners, the once-promising blood test startup Theranos has admitted that it's under criminal investigation. According to multiple sources, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California have started looking into whether the firm misled its investors about the state of its technology. The prosecutors even subpoenaed Walgreens, which offers the company's blood tests, and the New York State Department of Health within these past weeks. They asked both organizations for testimony on how Theranos described its tech to them, as well as for any document the company submitted. The Wall Street Journal says the criminal investigation's still in its very early stages, and it doesn't automatically mean the company will be indicted.
Walgreens starts breaking up with Theranos
The Financial Times is reporting that Walgreens is now actively looking to dump troubled blood testing startup Theranos. Sources claim that the pharmacy chain has instructed its lawyers to look at the partnership contract in the hope of finding an easy way out. The paper also says that Theranos is confident that the agreement is watertight and will force Walgreens to stand by it while it fixes its (numerous) problems. It's believed that Walgreens is annoyed at the wealth of negative publicity Theranos has generated and is worried about being tainted by association.
Theranos CEO strikes back over blood test scrutiny (update from WSJ)
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an article that raised some questions surrounding startup lab Theranos' claims that it can run a variety of blood tests with just a single finger-prick. Apparently the aforementioned finger-prick test have so far only been used to diagnose herpes (not the hundreds once promised) and some customers have reported wild inaccuracies with tests. Former employees have also come forward to the Journal accusing Theranos of poor practices like diluting blood samples for testing on commercially available machines. Today, Theranos CEO and founder Elizabeth Holmes attended an interview at WSJD Live (which is a conference put on by the Wall Street Journal) to address these accusations head on.
