Elizabeth Holmes hosted the Vice President, and a national magazine called her the "Next Steve Jobs."
Her company, Palo Alto-based Theranos, performed six million blood tests, with the goal of changing healthcare. Cheaper, more transparent testing; even an arrangement with Walgreens. Holmes became a billionaire, with a company worth 9 billion dollars.
Then, trouble hit. The Centers for Medicare and Medicade Services (CMS) found what it called critical violations inside a Theranos lab. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, these included failure to properly hire and train qualified staff to run the blood testing machines, and allowing unlicensed workers to review patient test results.
After a long and baffling period of silence, Holmes spoke to NBC's Today Show, saying, "I feel devastated that we did not catch and fix these issues faster." After a follow-up letter where CMS called the fixes "insufficient," Holmes tells NBC, "I'm the founder and CEO of the company; anything that happens in this company is my responsibility."
Holmes told NBC's Maria Shriver she "absolutely" thinks her company will survive, and that she plans to re-build the offending lab from scratch. But, after making it the darling of the healthcare industry, will investors stick around?
Scott follows tech and healthcare on Twitter: @scottbudman
