Ponzi Scheme in Laboratory Medicine

Medical Laboratory startup once having a valuation of 10 billion dollars is the biggest scam and ponzi scheme in the history of Laboratory Medicine. Theranos, a defunct healthcare technology company, claimed to have invented a machine that can perform thousands of blood tests on a single drop of blood from a fingerstick without using the traditional venipuncture. This blood testing company was first founded in 2003 by 19 year old Elizabeth Holmes, a chemical engineering dropout from Stanford University.

Lies and Deception are at the core of Theranos' rise and in June 2018, Elizabeth Holmes stepped down as CEO and was charged with wire fraud among other criminal charges. She defrauded investors and is the focus of a HBO documentary as well as a movie that is yet to be released. Elizabeth claimed that this machine, which she dubbed "Edison", would revolutionize the diagnostics industry and eliminate the use of needles in Laboratory Medicine. It made her the youngest female billionaire in the world. But this Medical Laboratory invention came crashing down when the inaccuracies of the technology were exposed and it then fell from grace. Theranos was charged with massive fraud and forced to close all its medical labs and shutter operations altogether.

Elizabeth Holmes was on top of the world in 2014 with a net worth of 4.5 billion based on Forbes and now she is worth nothing (zero) in 2018. She was inspired by her great-great- grandfather Christian Holmes, who was a surgeon. Hence she decided that she want to go into medicine but she was terrified of needles. This influenced Elizabeth Holmes to start Theranos.