Company Revolutionizes blood tests with new technology – EXAME.com

Science | 03/10/2014 06:00

Disclosure / Theranos

Elizabeth Holmes: she left Stanford after 19 years to establish a company $ 9 billion

 São Paulo – Revolutionize blood tests was apparently an idea of ​​billions of dollars. At least make it surrendered to American Elizabeth Holmes arriving to the list of American billionaires by Forbes magazine.

 Holmes left college Stanford at age 19 and founded a startup applying technology in healthcare. The project became the Theranos, company that managed $ 400 million in investments and is now worth nine billion dollars (Holmes, now 30 years old, owns half of the company).

 Thanks to technology developed by Theranos, those big tubes of blood are collected for examinations may become a thing of the past. Traditional tubes have about ten centimeters. Those used by Theranos have less than 1.3 cm.

 According to the company, the Theranos needs only one thousandth of the blood sample that traditional tests employ to deliver results to the patient.

 The company also differentiates itself by stating that the results of any examination can be delivered in a maximum of four hours. And Theranos says its results are well-aimed.

 According to Holmes, errors often occur due to contamination Lab . “We have no manual contact with the samples. The blood is collected and placed in a refrigerated box. The next step is processing in the laboratory, which is done by automated machines without any manual intervention, “said Holmes in an interview with Wired.

 It may seem that such revolution scientific expensive cost. But the company’s tests are cheaper than those of other laboratories in the United States. Holmes gives as an example the fertility test for women. “A lot of people pay for this exam which can cost up to two thousand dollars. Our new fertility test will cost $ 35, “says Holmes.

 The technology used in the company is kept secret under numerous patents. But Holmes is estimated that the use of its technology by health plans could represent a savings of $ 100 billion per decade for each of them.