Theranos axes 40% of staff

Panic-stricken blood testing company Theranos is shutting down its two testing labs, with the loss of 40 per cent of its staff.

The decision was made by CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who holds a controlling stake in the company, after she was faced with a ban on running testing facilities over a long list of failings at the company's testing facility in California. Theranos is appealing the federal regulator's decision.

The company will now place its "undivided attention" on new miniLab test devices – devices that Holmes outlined for the first time to a frustrated medical conference in August. Conference attendees were expecting empirical evidence that its previous Edison machines actually worked. Instead they got another sales pitch about the new devices.

Holmes' personal wealth was reduced from $4.5bn to $0bn in June, following revelations by The Wall Street Journal that its much-hyped testing technology didn't work.

Since then, the company has faced repeated sanctions by federal authorities and is also under criminal investigation for potentially misleading investors. ®