Few days before christmas The testimonies in the trial of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, ended. We are talking about an especially important and media judgment, because among other things, the fall of this startup represented a before and after in relation to the scrutiny to which newly created companies, with a technological base, are subjected, which since the early 2000s They have marked the technological and business agenda of half the world.
As we already told you a few weeks ago, la cause against the founder of Theranos painted dark gray for Holmes, who at just 20 years old and after a quick passage through the university, designed a system that would serve to perform blood tests with a minimal sample. This would prevent needle blood draws, something that is traumatic for many people, including Holmes herself. With that promise, he began to capitalize on his company and give it great visibility.
Fruit of that success, Theranos capitalization began to grow like foamThe same can be said of the public image of Holmes, which at one point came to be described as the new Steve Jobs. Those were days of wine and roses in which Holmes starred in the covers of weekly magazines around the world, Theranos got to obtain investments worth 1.400 million dollars and, with its laboratories already underway, began to add clients.
This success did not come, however, with the approval of the scientific community and regulators. In fact, the FDA never approved their technology, and practically from the first moment critical voices began to be heard, affirming that the Theranos proposal was not real. But the problems for Theranos came when investors wanted to take a step back, along with finding flaws in the analytics their clients were getting. At that moment the enormous house of cards began to be dismantled.
Image: Steve Jurvetson
The judicial journey that began those days is not far from over. Over the past few months the prosecution has presented an enormous amount of evidence and testimonies that would show that Theranos technology was not what the company claimed, and consequently asks for 20 years in prison, a fine of 250,000 dollars and the payment of compensation to the victims of malpractice on the part of the company.
After that phase, the final weeks of the trial were spent with the defense of Holmes and Theranos doing their part, although their situation seems singularly complicated. After this phase ends, days before Christmas, the deliberation phase by the jury began. And although a speedy resolution was expected by the same, today we learned from The New York Times that the jury will need a little more time to make a decision on part of the multiple charges that Holmes faces.
In the absence of agreement on these points, the judge responsible for the case urged the jury to extend their deliberation time, until an agreement is reached regarding all charges. However, in the event that the situation lasts even longer in time, it is possible that a partial verdict will be issued on the charges on which there is consensus, leaving the rest waiting for the rest to be resolved. .
