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How is this device anything like Theranos? Theranos promised a world with less of a need for lab testing and claimed to empower individuals to analyze their own

How is this device anything like Theranos? Theranos promised a world with less of a need for lab testing and claimed to empower individuals to analyze their own vital statistics. This is a product for disease detection in labs. They are more of a thematic contradiction of one another than anything else.

ForHackernews 8y ago
Theranos promised to use microfluidics to deliver fast, low-cost test results at the point of care.
- jschwartzi 8y ago
  Theranos didn't publish any studies or do any basic research. This is a press release based on a proof of concept article. It's totally different.
  - ineedasername 8y ago
    For good or bad, any move in this space is going to draw inevitable comparisons to theranos. Yes this current example is based on a proof of concept, but at some point any research has to hit the product phase, and that is especially when theranos blowback will produce both criticism and scrutiny.
    - MBCook 8y ago
      Theranos is exactly what I thought of as soon as I saw this. They’re not claiming to do it with only a “nano-tainer“ of blood, or to do a bunch of the level sensing things (cholesterol, blood sugar, PSA, etc) that Theranos promised. It’s also not as small as a package of reagents. But it looks like this works the way Theranos CLAIMED their tech worked, only in single use form without the machine to do some of the work for you. Comparisons are 100% inevitable.
  - darawk 8y ago
    Theranos did publish studies, they just weren't very good. They also did quite a lot of basic research. It just, also, wasn't very good. However, Theranos had lots of extremely qualified people attesting to the quality of their work, especially early on. Now, i'm not saying this company isn't legit, or is like Theranos. But it is hard to tell from the outside, and it's important to remember that when making comparisons.

ForHackernews 8y ago

Theranos promised to use microfluidics to deliver fast, low-cost test results at the point of care.

jschwartzi 8y ago
Theranos didn't publish any studies or do any basic research. This is a press release based on a proof of concept article. It's totally different.
- ineedasername 8y ago
  For good or bad, any move in this space is going to draw inevitable comparisons to theranos. Yes this current example is based on a proof of concept, but at some point any research has to hit the product phase, and that is especially when theranos blowback will produce both criticism and scrutiny.
  - MBCook 8y ago
    Theranos is exactly what I thought of as soon as I saw this. They’re not claiming to do it with only a “nano-tainer“ of blood, or to do a bunch of the level sensing things (cholesterol, blood sugar, PSA, etc) that Theranos promised. It’s also not as small as a package of reagents. But it looks like this works the way Theranos CLAIMED their tech worked, only in single use form without the machine to do some of the work for you. Comparisons are 100% inevitable.
- darawk 8y ago
  Theranos did publish studies, they just weren't very good. They also did quite a lot of basic research. It just, also, wasn't very good. However, Theranos had lots of extremely qualified people attesting to the quality of their work, especially early on. Now, i'm not saying this company isn't legit, or is like Theranos. But it is hard to tell from the outside, and it's important to remember that when making comparisons.