Things seem to be going from bad to worse for embattled blood-testing startup Theranos.
Drug store chain Walgreens, Theranos main retail partner, has threatened to end its relationship with the Palo Alto-based startup, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Journal, citing unnamed sources, reports Theranos has until the end of the month to fix the problems federal inspectors found at its laboratory, or Walgreens will sever the partnership.
The startup has been in hot water since October, when the Wall Street Journal reported the company wasn t using its signature technology – which was supposed to give it the ability to run blood tests with just a few drops of blood – for the majority of its lab tests. The company, then valued at $9 billion has since been besieged by problems.
The FDA has declared Theranos micro blood vials to be uncleared medical devices, and found the company didn t seem to be delivering on what it claimed to do. A year earlier, Safeway ended a $350 million partnership with the company.
The latest issue comes in the form of a letter Walgreens sent Theranos late last month, according to the Wall Street Journal. The two companies had planned to work together to offer finger-prick blood tests nationwide, but Walgreens recently froze plans to expand the tests, stopped sending patient samples to Theranos California lab, and now is reassessing the entire partnership. Currently there are 40 Theranos Walgreens stores in Arizona, providing the startup s primary source of revenue, the Journal reports.
Photo: Theranos founder and chief executive Elizabeth Holmes. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
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