[sandGorgon]

Is this something innovative? In india, i just paid 90$ and got 14 different tests including tumor markers tested for. The blood was collected at home (and then sent to a central testing facility).

Unless, it is radically new technology... I'm curious on the value proposition here.

[firasd]

Yes, the customer-friendly blood testing in India would be incredibly "disruptive" to American lab tests. Not only does the US have different costs and regulations but the medical industry is based on extracting money from insurance companies so every process is a bit occluded.

That said, Theranos is still on the hook because a business model innovation would probably not justify their valuation and PR compared to a tech innovation.

[adevine]

If it were just a business model innovation, Theranos would rightly be worth nothing, because they wouldn't bring anything to the table. CVS or Walgreen's have all the assets that would be worth anything in this situation.

[pavel_lishin]

I wonder if it would be feasible to collect blood in the United States and ship it to India for testing.

[TTPrograms]

The blood was collected at home? As in the patients draw vials of their own blood?

[sandGorgon]

no - there's a dude who comes with this very interesting sealed testtube (with a rubber seal on top) and a kind of gel inside. He takes the blood out (labor is cheap in India!)

You have to remember that Delhi easily exceeds 115 degrees fahrenheit in summer. this gel is supposed to stabilize the blood for upto 48 hours and it is shipped across the country to Mumbai where there is this massive test lab which does all the tests I have paid for.