A defunct health care corporation invented by Elizabeth Holmes that was once considered revolutionary in conducting blood tests that required only a finger-prick but there was one big problem; it was too good to be true. It was a big sham. The technology was worthless (engineers with their PhD's couldn't get the blood testing equipment to work), the tests were highly inaccurate (one example; a patient complained about ringing in her ears, Theranos test said she was at risk of having a stroke, her doctor thought something seemed off, gave her a real blood test and it turned out the symptoms were just the result of insomnia!), investors were mislead despite a boatload of red flags (Theranos never demonstrated the technology and showed them the labs. Investors just liked the cool idea of a test requiring just a drop of blood), the company was tyrannical chaos and mistreated their employees pretty harshly, etc.

Holmes and her equally scummy partner/sugar daddy Sunny Balwani have been indicted for wire fraud. Just read the book "Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup" by John Carreryrou if you want to get the full details. A must-read.
I'm just glad I never got sick and relied on a Theranos blood test. I might have died!
by Soul_Driver January 18, 2019
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Theranos was an American privately held corporation (2003-2018) which was touted as a breakthrough health technology company, with claims of having devised blood tests that required only very small amounts of blood and could be performed very rapidly using small automated devices the company had developed. A fantastic lesson in overselling, founder Elizabeth Holmes was brought to court facing 12 fraud charges over her role at the now-defunct blood-testing firm which was once worth $9bn. She is accused of deceiving investors and patients by claiming Theranos could detect common illnesses using just a few drops of blood from a finger prick.
"Did you hear Magic Leap received another $500 million in funding?"
"Sounds theranos to me. I don't know many companies utilizing them."
"I agree, it feels theranos."
by Lisa K Padilla October 14, 2021
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When you know you are guilty, your trial is scheduled to start at a certain time and you get pregnant in order to win the sympathy vote with the jury.
To pull a Theranos is to time a pregnancy sk that you are heavily pregnant or welcome a child right at the time when a trial is about to start and there is overwhelming evidence of yout guilt and you're more likely than not facing jail time too. Just like Elizabeth Holmes in the trial against her and like Ambet Heard in the trial against a british tabloid.
by psy123 May 11, 2022
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