Finally, Some Theranos Data. But Not From Theranos

Matthew Herper

There’s a central dictum in engineering, in medicine, in life, at which Theranos, the controversial blood test company, has constantly failed. “In God we trust,” the mid-century statistician William Edward Deming quipped. “All others bring data.”

Now, once again, Theranos does not have data to bring. But researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai have done their own analysis of Theranos’ tests, which replace needle jabs with finger pricks. They have found them wanting.

The Mt. Sinai researchers analyzed results from 60 patients using Theranos and tests from larger rivals Laboratory Corporation of America and Quest Diagnostics DGX +1.23%. The study found that Theranos consistently gave cholesterol readouts that were five to ten points too low. It was 12.5 times more likely to say it could not get results from a sample. It was 60% more likely to say a test value was too low or too high. The study is published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

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