The drug store chain— which stopped sending blood tests to Theranos’ Newark, California lab in February—announced that it will shutter 40 Theranos Wellness Centers in Arizona, making this the latest in a series of setbacks for the once-heralded startup.
Brad Fluegel, Walgreens’ senior vice president and chief health care commercial market development officer, issued the following statement:
In light of the voiding of a number of test results, and as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has rejected Theranos' plan of correction and considers sanctions, we have carefully considered our relationship with Theranos and believe it is in our customers' best interests to terminate our partnership.
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A Theranos spokesman told reporters that the company is still working to comply with federal standards:
We are disappointed that Walgreens has chosen to terminate our relationship and remain fully committed to our mission to provide patients access to affordable health information and look forward to continuing to serve customers in Arizona and California through our retail locations.
Theranos’ chief executive, Elizabeth Holmes, founded the company in 2003. It made headlines in recent years for its Edison device, which was supposed to streamline blood testing, making it faster and less invasive.
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Theranos had voided all test results on the Edison device for 2014 and 2015. Theranos is telling media outlets that it voided the tests as a precautionary measure, but The Journal further reported that it “hasn’t provided Walgreens some specific information and documentation about blood tests voided for its customers, including which specific customers and tests.”
Walgreens reportedly invested $50 million in Theranos, which it is unlikely to recoup.
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