Legal
Broadcast Network recently interviewed Los Angeles attorney Tracy Green,
and expert in health care regulatory issues, on the possible outcomes of the
dispute between Theranos, a $9 billion valued private biotech company started
by Elizabeth Holmes, and The Wall Street Journal.
Theranos is offering a new technology solution to an old problem. In October, the Wall Street Journal published a report alleging that Theranos’s claims about its transformative diagnostic technology, including needle-free blood tests that yield faster results than industry standard tests, do not hold up. Theranos fired back with a denial, offering a rebuttal to statements in the article and suggesting that the reporter, John Carreyrou, had been trying to “take down” Theranos.
As
to the possibility of a libel action against the Wall Street Journal, Green
points out that “libel cases are hard to win.” Green is involved in a case
involving reporting by John Carreyrou, and she says that he is meticulous in
detailing what he does. Green says that an FDA
report released this week will affect any decision to sue. The FDA
report is a public record, so it would be important in any issue as to the
truth of what the Journal printed.
Green
also notes that Carreyrou apparently did a good job of cultivating
sources—employees and former employees of Theranos. Whether Carreyrou acted in
good faith and checked his facts would also be important. Green says that
Theranos has been known to be “incredibly secretive.” The company worked in
hidden buildings with no indication of what was going on there. Getting
information from insiders will be an important consideration, especially if
this information tracks with what the FDA reported.
Posted
by Green and Associates
Office: 213-233-2260
