Founded in 2003 by 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes,[6] Theranos raised more than US$700 million from venture capitalists and private investors,[7] resulting in a $10 billion valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014.[8][9] Theranos was hyped to its investors and in the media as a breakthrough in the blood-testing market, where the U.S. diagnostic-lab industry posts annual sales of over $70 billion. Theranos claimed its technology was revolutionary and that its tests required only about 1/100 to 1/1,000 of the amount of blood that would ordinarily be needed and cost far less than existing tests.
A turning point came in 2015, when medical research professors John Ioannidis and Eleftherios Diamandis and investigative journalist John Carreyrou of The Wall Street Journal questioned the validity of Theranos's technology. The company faced a string of legal and commercial challenges from medical authorities, investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), state attorneys general, former business partners, patients, and others.[10] By June 2016, it was estimated that Holmes's personal net worth had dropped from $4.5 billion to virtually nothing.[11] The company was near bankruptcy until it received, in 2017, a $100 million loan from Fortress Investment Group secured by its patents.[12] In September 2018, the company ceased operations.
