The birth of a star and its downfall, fortunes that accumulate (almost) as quickly as they go up in smoke, sex, scams… Hollywood was not mistaken. The Theranos affair – named after this American start-up specializing in health which has experienced the trajectory of a shooting star – has all of a well-crafted scenario. It will be brought to the screen in 2022, starring Jennifer Lawrence as Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the company.
In the meantime, it is Ms. Holmes who holds the top of the bill, as her trial began on August 31. For four months, she will have to defend herself from the charges against her, and demonstrate that she did not voluntarily lie to her investors, who left a lot of money there, and to her clients, whom she put in danger. At thirty-seven, she faces up to 20 years in prison and heavy financial penalties.
Trial period
The story begins in 2003. At only 19 years old, still a student at Stanford, Mrs. Holmes launched Theranos. Although she has no background in the health field, she claims to revolutionize the blood analysis industry. After a period of trial and error, at the dawn of the 2010s, she was able, with innovative technologies, and by taking a very small amount of blood, to perform more than 200 different tests, from vitamin deficiencies to cancer, record time, at reduced cost.
Theranos then sets out to storm the markets, targeting in particular the pharmacy networks, within which it wants to set up its “mini-laboratories”. This period of acceleration of the start-up corresponds with the arrival in 2009 as chairman of Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. Today also pursued by the American justice, he maintained a time an intimate relationship with Mrs. Holmes. Less visible than the very telegenic founder of the company, he leads the company with an iron fist.
Even internally, engineers see the weaknesses of the in-house solution
In 2013, it signed a contract with the Walgreens network – the second largest chain of pharmacies in the United States behind CVS – to set up the first equipment on some forty sites. It concludes a similar agreement with the Safeway supermarkets.
At the same time, she succeeded in convincing investors to bring funds to the capital of Theranos. It will raise a total of more than 700 million dollars, allowing the passage to Elizabeth Holmes to be consecrated in 2015 by Forbes magazine “Richest self-made woman in the United States” with a fortune estimated at 4.5 billion dollars (or half, then, of the valuation of his start-up). To maintain its reputation, the company brings on its board of directors leading political figures.
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