TheranosTM and the golden opportunity to revolutionize our diagnostic and pharmaceutical industries.  

By Liem Phan

Theranos^TM and its novel diagnostic device are taking the world of diagnostics and pharmaceutical industries by storm. Ms. Elizabeth Holmes, the multi-billionaire young and bold founder of Theranos (www.theranos.com), started the company about 10 years ago in California at the age of 19. With her determination to make disease diagnosis and health screenings more affordable, more accurate, faster and less painful, Holmes and her colleagues at Theranos, have developed innovative apparatus combining microfluidics technology, nanotechnology, and biotechnology.

According to Theranos, these creative lab-on-a-chips are able to deliver precise and rapid diagnostic results for a variety of disease biomarkers and health monitoring parametersat much lower costs compared to the prices of current services on the market. Moreover, Theranos' chips only need tiny amounts of blood samples to perform complex lab tests, which significantly facilitate the sample collection, storage and transport procedures. In addition, Holmes and her teams also invented a new method to collect blood from patients with almost no pain. Holmes expects that with this quasi-painless blood collection procedure, and the advantages of Theranos' novel platform, affordability, speed, accuracy and excellent services, patients will finally feel much more comfortable with lab tests than before.

Furthermore, Theranos has integrated information technology in their service to quickly deliver digital diagnostic results to patients and their healthcare teams. This is a smart strategy that may significantly improve healthcare. However, the confidentiality of patients and their health records should be considered a top priority for Theranos. This young and innovative startup is currently backed by multiple prestigious investors, including Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corporation. Theranos has recently made their appearance in multiple media channels such as BBC, Fortune, USA Today, Fox, Tech Crunch, among others. The company has signed a deal with Walgreens Inc., to establish Theranos^TM Wellness Centers across the US, bringing Theranos's services closer to customers.

Interestingly, the impact of Theranos' inventions could be well beyond the field of diagnostics. In fact, their devices can also be used to monitor in real time the physiological responses of our bodies to medications, which may remarkably accelerate therapy development in pharmaceutical industry and enable physicians to quickly determine optimal treatment plans for patients. Although it is still early to fully evaluate the potentials and capacities of Theranos' groundbreaking devices, the fascinating story of Ms. Elizabeth Holmes, another Stanford dropout and pioneering entrepreneur, is certainly an inspiring example for our young generations.