Multiple Blood Tests with One Drop of Blood

(Palo Alto, CA) An exciting new technology developed by Palo Alto health tech company Theranos could become the norm for diagnostic testing of blood. The company, founded by then 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes in 2003, has developed a way to perform up to 30 diagnostic tests on only a drop of blood at a cost significantly less than normal testing procedures. Results normally available in a day or two are available in less than 4 hours, allowing for follow-up testing to be performed using the same blood.

The company currently has collection centers at Walgreens in Palo Alto, CA and in Phoenix, AZ. Holmes' plan, however, is to establish Theranos outposts at Walgreens across the country and eventually "place a Theranos center within five miles of almost every American and within one mile of every city dweller."

The innovative technology has been endorsed by the Cleveland Clinic who will partner with Theranos to test its technology as a potential cost-saver for the entire health system.

Theranos' method for blood collection, which involves no needles, takes a micro sample of blood from capillaries in the finger and stores it in a small container for analysis at one of the company's two labs. The company, which currently provides its laboratory services through a network of Theranos Wellness Centers inside Walgreens stores in Arizona [and] Northern California, can perform up to 30 tests on a single sample, many at a small fraction of the rates set by Medicare.

A standard lipid panel, for example, costs $2.99 via Theranos, and can cost anywhere from $60 to hundreds of dollars, depending on where and when it's performed.[...]

The biggest hurdle [to switching over to Theranos testing system-wide] is that Theranos currently offers about 200 blood tests, and the Clinic offers about 1,500.

Theranos, by some reports, is valued at $9 Billion and is currently privately owned.

Posted by Note Taker