If its hiring strategies are any indication, Palo Alto, Calif.-based blood test startup Theranos plans to persevere despite its bad press.
The company is seeking to fill 200 positions, based on its job ads — representing 20 percent growth over its current staff of 1,000, as reported by STAT. It is hiring for a host of positions, from administrative to creative to information technology to supply chain, and plans to open a lab in Harrisburg, Pa. Theranos also recently added three new members to its board and last month it announced an eight-member scientific advisory board stocked with heavyweight medical and laboratory experts, such as William Foege, MD, the former director of the CDC.
However, as the company works to on its turnaround, it is facing significant challenges. News broke Wednesday that Theranos is recalling and correcting tens of thousands of test results performed on its propriety finger-prick testing device, nicknamed "Edison." While this is certainly a move to do right in the industry, it also brought many stories to light about patients misdiagnosed by Theranos tests. For example, in TheWall Street Journal report that broke the news of the recall was the story of patient who was sent to the emergency room in 2014 for abnormally elevated test results. The corrected results show the patient had normal values on the test, according to WSJ.
These steps come after eight months of steady bad news, starting with a pair of investigative reports in The Wall Street Journal alleging the company overstated the capabilities of its Edison devices. Things went downhill after that: The FDA has prohibited Theranos from using Edison for all but one test, and it has faced a federal inspection and a criminal investigation. CMS has threatened to ban founder Elizabeth Holmes from operating labs for two years, as well as to revoke the lab's license and impose fines. The startup lost a $350 million deal with Safeway, reduced its board by more than half and recently lost its president and COO, Sunny Balwani.
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