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Are there any questions as to the validity of Theranos' IP portfolio? Or was the tech all junk science too? The list of assigned patents looks impressive. Perh

Are there any questions as to the validity of Theranos' IP portfolio? Or was the tech all junk science too? The list of assigned patents looks impressive. Perhaps something that could be developed further by an acquirer? http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=Theranos&FIELD1=&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=PTXT http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=H...

Hermitian909 8y ago
The book "Bad Blood" covers this a bit. From what I gather the only thing they ever managed was a bit miniaturization of several existing standalone products and a way to integrate those products into a single package. When Elizabeth Holmes presented the tech at an AACC conference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6JRG733ReQ&t=3882s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6JRG733ReQ&t=3882s) experts in the field were pretty underwhelmed.
- duxup 8y ago
  Based on excerpts from the book almost nothing they had actually functioned in a production type environment. Even their miniaturization created new issues that they couldn't resolve.
  - fest 8y ago
    That doesn't mean it's not patentable though.
cepth 8y ago
The loan that Theranos took out from Fortress last year is secured by the company’s assets and IP (https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/23/theranos-gets-100-million-in-debt-financing-to-carry-it-through-2018-with-some-caveats/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/23/theranos-gets-100-million-...). Fortress is no slouch, but I wonder if their acquisition by SoftBank has changed their model to more of a VC risk taking appetite instead of traditional Wall Street firms. Further, the late Ian Gibbons was the “real” inventor on many of these patents. At the end of his life, he despaired to find out that because Elizabeth Holmes insisted on being listed as an inventor on all of Theranos patents, that was potential grounds for cancelling the patents altogether should someone challenge the patents in court.

Hermitian909 8y ago

The book "Bad Blood" covers this a bit. From what I gather the only thing they ever managed was a bit miniaturization of several existing standalone products and a way to integrate those products into a single package. When Elizabeth Holmes presented the tech at an AACC conference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6JRG733ReQ&t=3882s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6JRG733ReQ&t=3882s) experts in the field were pretty underwhelmed.

duxup 8y ago
Based on excerpts from the book almost nothing they had actually functioned in a production type environment. Even their miniaturization created new issues that they couldn't resolve.
- fest 8y ago
  That doesn't mean it's not patentable though.

cepth 8y ago

The loan that Theranos took out from Fortress last year is secured by the company’s assets and IP (https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/23/theranos-gets-100-million-in-debt-financing-to-carry-it-through-2018-with-some-caveats/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/23/theranos-gets-100-million-...). Fortress is no slouch, but I wonder if their acquisition by SoftBank has changed their model to more of a VC risk taking appetite instead of traditional Wall Street firms. Further, the late Ian Gibbons was the “real” inventor on many of these patents. At the end of his life, he despaired to find out that because Elizabeth Holmes insisted on being listed as an inventor on all of Theranos patents, that was potential grounds for cancelling the patents altogether should someone challenge the patents in court.