By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) – Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is on trial https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/fraud-trial-theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-set-begin-2021-09-08 in federal court in San Jose, California, on charges of defrauding investors and patients about the now-defunct company’s blood-testing technology. She has pleaded not guilty.
Here is a timeline of key events leading up to the trial.
2003 – Holmes founds Theranos, then called Real-Time Cures, after dropping out of Stanford University. Then only 19 years old, Holmes aimed to revolutionize diagnostic testing.
2004 – The nascent company raises more than $6 million in funding, reaching a valuation of $30 million.
2009 – Holmes’ then-boyfriend Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani joins Theranos as chief operating officer.
2010 – Theranos raises a further $45 million in funding, reaching a valuation of $1 billion.
2011 – Theranos begins attracting high-profile board members, including two former U.S. secretaries of state, George Shultz and Henry Kissinger.
2012 – The company moves to the former Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
2013 – Theranos begins promoting its technology, claiming to be able to run a wide range of tests on a single drop of blood using a machine called the Edison, and enters into a partnership with Walgreens Boots Alliance.
2014 – Having raised more than $400 million, Theranos is valued at more than $9 billion. Holmes is recognized by Forbes as a billionaire, thanks to her stake in the company.
February 2015 – An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association criticizes Theranos for failing to publish any of its research in peer-reviewed journals.
July 2015 – Theranos wins U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a test to detect the herpes simplex 1 virus.
October 2015 – The Wall Street Journal reports that Theranos uses its technology for only a small number of its tests, and that employees doubt their accuracy. The FDA subsequently releases a finding that the company used unapproved devices for tests.
January 2016 – The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releases a report that one of the company’s facilities presents “jeopardy to patient health and safety.” The agency said an inspection revealed that the facility did not meet its own quality-control standards, including not properly calibrating equipment.
June 2016 – Walgreens ends its relationship with Theranos.
October 2016 – Partner Fund Management, which invested nearly $100 million in Theranos, sues the company for securities fraud, claiming it lied about its technology to secure the investment. The case is later settled.
April 2017 – Theranos reaches a deal with CMS barring it from the blood-testing business for two years.
March 2018 – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges Theranos, Holmes and Balwani with securities fraud. Holmes is stripped of her stake in and control of the company.
June 2018 – Holmes and Balwani are indicted on criminal fraud charges.
September 2018 – Theranos announces that it will dissolve.
March 2021 – Holmes reveals she is pregnant.
August 2021 – Holmes gives birth to her child. A court filing reveals that Holmes plans to argue she was under the control of Balwani, who she says was abusive, at the time of the charged crimes.
September 2021 – Trial begins.
(Compiled by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
