Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
For those with
needle phobia Theranos might save you, or your small children, from a lot of stress and anxiety!
Theranos, a Silicon Valley biotech
company, has changed the face of lab testing allowing for multiple lab tests to
be performed with a single tiny drop of blood instead of multiple vials. And
what is more, this testing can be performed at Walgreen’s, where a proprietary
infrastructure for analyzing samples -- at point-of-service without a skilled operator -- both minimizes the main source of errors and ensures the results of your tests are provided in about 4 hours!
All that is needed for multiple
tests is a micro-sample obtained via finger stick, as small as 1/1000 the size of a typical blood draw. You can say goodbye to “big bad needles” for good!
And perhaps best of all, the Theranos CLIA-certified laboratory testing is
performed at a fraction of the costs of traditional testing. The costs of tests
are even posted at the Theranos website (www.theranos.com).
For example, consider a lipid panel at the Theranos cost of $9.21 compared to
the traditional LabCorp lipid panel price of $100.00. In fact, the company even expects to save
Medicare and Medicaid more than respectively 90 and 60 billion dollars in the next 10 years! It is
already billing at 50% under threshold reimbursement levels, and fully believes this low cost
access is part of a human rights perspective on health care and health. [Wired
Data Life Interview with CEO Elizabeth Holmes, Nov. 27, 2013]
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All of the Theranos biotechnology
is patented, from sampling to analyses methods and point of service processes. An EPO search for Theranos returns 127 patents!
The WIPO patent WO2014015191 titled Low-volume
coagulation assay is one of these patents. This patent recites compositions
and methods for measurement of blood coagulation factors with a very small
amount of blood, about 20 µl, compared to the traditional amount of 5 ml
collected in a fixed volume vacuum vial, and which also leaves plenty of the
drop of blood collected for other Theranos tests!
The measurement of blood coagulation is important since inadequate coagulation can
lead to increased risk of bleeding (hemorrhage), whereas excessive coagulation
can lead to obstructive clotting (thrombosis). Although blood coagulation testing has existed
for many years, this low volume assay invention simplifies getting tested,
obtaining results, reduces errors and ultimately makes testing accessible to far more people both
due to lowered costs and to the simplicity of the neighborhood process.
Below appears the abstract for WO2014015191 titled Low
volume coagulation assay and images appear above of the 1.29 cm Nanotainer™
vial (smaller than a dime) containing a drop of blood for all the Theranos analyses that your doctor
orders!
Compositions and methods for measuring coagulation parameters using very small volumes of blood are provided. Advantageously, the methods described herein can be performed from a single drop of blood (about 20 Ill) while generally leaving enough sample to perform other measurements, optionally in a multiplexed format. The methods and devices do not require a skilled operator and can be performed at the point of service, which can be an important feature for managing blood coagulation disorders and treatments thereof. [Abstract WO2014015191]
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Oh, and you must hear Elizabeth
Holmes, CEO of Theranos, and Stanford student who dropped out of her sophomore year
to build Theranos, speak about how to make it work in the YouTube video below !
