Innovations in Lab Testing Arriving at Light Speed

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXXII, No. 4 – March 10, 2025 Issue

TODAY, IT’S A CHALLENGE TO STAY UP WITH ALL THE NEW THINGS arriving in the lab testing marketplace. Novel assays are launched weekly. That is equally true for next-generation automation and lab analyzers, with vendors regularly announcing something new to their menu of products. The pace of innova…

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Lab Vendors Adjusting to Changing Sales Practices

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 8 – June 6, 2022 Issue

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Lab Buys More Instruments as Way to Add Test Volume

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXVII No. 9 – June 22, 2020 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Severe shortages of supplies for COVID-19 lab testing caused one lab director in the Midwest to buy additional instruments while also validating five different COVID-19 tests to run on analyzers the lab used before the pandemic hit. While this strategy allowed the lab to …

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SEC Charges Theranos with ‘Massive Fraud’

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXV No. 5 – March 26, 2018 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In an action against Theranos and two of its executives, the SEC said in a federal court filing this month that the company, CEO Elizabeth Holmes, and former COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani deceived investors into believing that the company’s portable blood analyzer could co…

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Walgreens Tells Theranos: ‘Lab Deal Is Terminated’

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIII No. 8 – June 13, 2016 Issue

BREAKING NEWS: As this issue of THE DARK REPORT went to press, it was learned that Walgreens had announced the termination of its lab testing agreement with Theranos, effective immediately. Theranos loses access to about 40 Walgreens pharmacies in Phoe…

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Washington Post: Theranos Approached Military in 2012

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXII, Number 17 – December 7, 2015 Issue

SINCE THE WALL STREET JOURNAL published its exposé of Theranos Inc. in October, other media outlets have published the findings of their own investigations into various aspects of the lab company’s practices. One example is the disclosure by The Wall Street …

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WSJ ‘Sticks’ Theranos, Raises Serious Questions

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXII No. 15 – October 26, 2015 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Following months of investigation, reporter John Carreyrou of The Wall Street Journal published back-to-back reports about aspects of Theranos that the…

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Newer, Smaller Analyzers Will Bring Big Data to Labs

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXII No. 10 – July 13, 2015 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Clinical laboratories of all sizes are poised to become the source of much of a hospital or health system’s “big data.” At many academic center labs, greater use of genetic and molecular testing requires that more space and more staff be devoted to data management. A…

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Level Two of Value Pyramid Defines Internal Benchmarks

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXI No.16 – November 24, 2014 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In this second installment of our series on the laboratory value pyramid, we introduce “Level Two: Establish and Meet Standards of Value.” This second level continues the lab’s focus on its internal operations and activities. The goal is for the lab to develop the working cultu…

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‘Game Changer’ Mass Spectrometry for Microbiology at UNC

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXI No. 8 – June 9, 2014 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Microbiologists at the University of North Carolina are using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to slash the time to answer and significantly cut lab costs. Their goals are to improve patient outcomes and reduce average length of stay. In a one-year study presented last month, UNC …

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