Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Regulators Propose Banning Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes for at Least Two Years

From the Wall Street Journal, Apr. 13:

Startup hopes to avoid sanctions, but Holmes and No. 2 executive could be forced out of blood-testing business for failing to fix problems
Federal health regulators have proposed banning Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes from the blood-testing business for at least two years after concluding that the company failed to fix what regulators have called major problems at its laboratory in California. 
Federal health regulators have proposed banning Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes from the blood-testing business for at least two years after concluding that the company failed to fix what regulators have called major problems at its laboratory in California. 
In a letter dated March 18, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it plans to revoke the California lab’s federal license and prohibit its owners, including Ms. Holmes and Theranos’s president, Sunny Balwani, from owning or running any other lab for at least two years. That would include the company’s only other lab, located in Arizona. 
The two labs generate most of Theranos’s revenue and are at the core of its strategy to revolutionize the blood-testing industry with new technology, user-friendliness and quick results. 
The letter hasn’t been released to the public, but a copy was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. 
Under federal law, Theranos had 10 days to give CMS evidence of why the sanctions shouldn’t be imposed. The company has responded, and CMS is reviewing the response, according to a person familiar with the matter....MORE