硅谷发明家：吸血成金

事实上 我读过
As it turns out, I had.
Elizabeth Holmes的一段话
And there was a quote from Elizabeth Holmes
被Ken Auletta描述为 模糊得可笑
that Ken Auletta described as "comically vague."
听起来就好像
It sounded like the words
一个高中化学学生说的话
of a high school chemistry student,
而不是一个研发了新科技的
as opposed to a sophisticated laboratory scientist
成熟的科学家的话
who'd really invented new science.
但如果不是因为我的线人
But I might not have done anything about it
带来的这条消息
if it weren't for the fact that
我可能也不会有所行动
my source was now coming to me with this tip.
他说一个实验室主管
He said there's a laboratory director
最近刚刚被Theranos开除
who had just left Theranos on pretty bad terms
因为他对在公♥司♥里看到的违规操作
because he had become increasingly concerned
表示了极大的质疑
about the practices that he had witnessed there.
我立刻来了兴趣
My ears definitely pricked up at that,
所以我回了电♥话♥
and so I made contact.
当我打电♥话♥给他的时候
When I got him on the phone,
在打过几次之后 他吓坏了
after trying him a few times, he was terrified.
他被著名律师 David Boies
He was being hounded by the law firm
的公♥司♥恐吓
of the famous lawyer David Boies.
Theranos的神来之笔就是雇佣了David Boies
One of Theranos's strokes of genius was to hire David Boies
还给了他公♥司♥的股票
and also give him stock in the company.
这可是法律界的一头狮子啊
I mean, this is a lion of the legal industry,
他很可能是美国最有名的律师
arguably the most well-known lawyer in America,
他在2000年的大选重新计票中是Al Gore的律师
who had represented Al Gore in in the presidential recount in 2000.
在这之前还参与了司法部起诉微软一案
Before that, won a case on behalf of the Justice Department against Microsoft,
在长达20小时的证人陈述中给了Bill Gates粉碎性的打击
and had shred Bill Gates during 20 hours of deposition.
他之后又因Harvey Weinstein
And he would later become famous as the legal muscle
试图封口受害者一案声名远扬
for Harvey Weinstein and his attempt to silence accusers.
这是一个能够令人恐惧的人
This was someone who struck fear in many people.
那个实验室主管称
The lab director said that Boies was pressuring him
Boies通过诉讼来向他施压 恐吓他
and threatening him with litigation.
因此 我必须同意
So, I had to agree, uh,
对他的身份保密
to keep his identity confidential.
他向我透露Edison机器只能做几项检测
He told me that the Edison could only do a few tests,
而Theranos产品清单上的其他检测项目
and that all the other tests on Theranos's menu,
要知道那时他们已经有250项检测了
and at that point, we're talking about 250 blood tests,
是通过目前购买♥♥的商用检测设备
were done on commercially available
来完成的
laboratory machines that had been purchased
比如西门子和索灵
from companies like Siemens and DiaSorin.
同时他们也在血液检测的
And then they were also lying
可信度和准确度上说谎了
about the reliability and the accuracy of the blood tests.
所以我去了亚利桑那州
So, I went to Arizona
自己做了一次检测
to get myself tested.
一天早上
And so, one morning, I went
我去了离酒店最近的Walgreens
to the Walgreens that was closest to my hotel.
我坐在健康中心
I sat down in one of these
那个采血员
little Wellness Centers, and the phlebotomist,
我听到她在通电♥话♥
I heard her talking on the phone,
然后在电脑上输入了一些信息
and typing on a computer for a few minutes,
然后她转身过来
and then she turned around and she came at me
拿着止血带和注射器
with a tourniquet and a syringe.
于是我问 不应该是指尖采血吗
And I said, "Why not a fingerstick?
我以为这个项目最重要的就是
"I thought this was all about,
只用指尖采血
you know, a fingerstick blood test."
她回答 不 你订购的检测
She said, "No, your order actually
需要静脉抽血
includes tests that require venous draw."
事实上 在我的报道发布之前
The truth is that, before my story came out,
已经有一些
there had already been instances of people
去做血液检测的患者
going in to get their blood checked,
被要求做静脉抽血了
and they would need to do a venipuncture
而不是指尖采血了
instead of a fingerstick of capillary blood.
因此 我问过几次
And so, I asked about that a number of times,
但得到的答复都非常隐晦
and the answers were incredibly opaque.
我的疑惑是
So, my question is
现在需要静脉抽血而不是指尖采血的检测项目
what percentage of your tests are
到底有多少
needle rather than finger prick?
我 我现在无法给你一个准确数字
I- I don't have a really good number for you
因为数字在变
because it's changing.
我们很确信
And we're really confident being able to say
最终会实现99%的指尖采血
that we're very close to 99% being on capillary,
但如果一定要准确数字的话
but when you try to pinpoint a number- -
大概还要多久能实现呢
We talking about in the next
- 五年吗 一年 或者两个月吗 - 不
- five years? One year? Two months? - No.
远小于一年
Much less than a year,
毫无疑问
without question.
那时 你没想到
At the time, you didn't think that
这将会是很重要的线索吗
that was necessarily evidence of- -
完全没有 我其实相信了她
Absolutely not. I actually believed her.
真的 我记得她这样对我说
Of course, I remember her saying it to me.
但 其实是谎言
And...and, that's a lie.
以上
Period.
一年多之后
So, after a year or so,
我们发现指尖采血越来越少
we started to see the fingerstick collection dwindle,
而静脉采血越来越多
and more venipuncture increase.
他们是怎么解释这种转变呢
What did they tell you about why they were switching
这种半指尖采血半静脉采血的方式呢
to part fingerstick and part venipuncture?
他们没告诉我们 就这么发生了
They just- - They didn't tell us. It just happened.
他们要求我们需要给患者的官方说法是
We were told we would need to say this blanketed statement:
由于您的医嘱
"Due to the test that your physician ordered,
我们必须采用静脉采血方式
"we have to perform venipuncture
来保证有足够的血液
"to make sure that we had enough
进行进一步检测
"sample to perform the testing.
您是否要继续采血呢
Would you like to proceed?"
- 就这样而已 - 这一定令您惊讶吧
- That's it. - That must've surprised you.
是啊 很多技师也很震惊
Yeah, it surprised a lot of the technicians.
患者也很震惊
It surprised a lot of the patients,
其他顾客也一样
or the customers that were coming in, too.
有些人会出言无礼
Some people, uh, expressed profanities,
摔门而去 要求退款
stormed out, demanded their money back.
而且 因为逐渐转换到静脉抽血
Then, during that whole transition to venipuncture,
我们必须雇佣更多员工 而且因为又增加了十个健康中心
we had this big hiring boom where I had to train 50 more employees
我也又培训了50多个员工
because now we opened up our next 10 Wellness Centers.
随着Walgreens健康中心规模的扩张
With the Walgreens roll out,
Theranos的问题也凸显出来
the problems at Theranos were magnified.
Elizabeth和她的团队开♥发♥了一种工作模式
Instead of shutting down until the Edisons could perform
来伪装新科技的假象
all the tests on the Theranos menu,
而不是暂停服务
Elizabeth and her team invented a workaround designed
直到Edison能够完成清单上的所有检测为止
to create the illusion of a new technology.
对于大部分检测来说 他们必须用静脉血
For most tests, they were forced to use venous blood, drawn with needles,
并购买♥♥其他实验室使用的检测仪器
and to buy the same machines used by every other lab.
但是为了实现Elizabeth的指尖血检梦想
But to keep Elizabeth's fingerstick dream alive,
Theranos更改了一些仪器
Theranos modified some of those machines,
使之可用稀释过的毛细血管样本检测
so they would work with diluted capillary samples.
还有几项检测
And for a handful of patient tests,
公♥司♥采用Elizabeth在向Walgreens的投标中提到过的
the company used the old Edison prototype
旧款Edison设备进行检测
Elizabeth had pitched to Walgreens.
我们所作的工作是为了
What we've worked to do is eliminate the error
降低人工检测过程带来的
and variability that's associated
可信度问题
with human processing of samples.
当Elizabeth说整个过程都是自动的
When Elizabeth says the whole process was automated
从开始到结束 这简直是
from start to finish, it was...
那太夸张了
it was, uh, yeah, that was a stretch.
在开始检测之前
It would sometimes take six hours just to set up the system
有时甚至需要花六小时来设置系统
before we could even run the patient samples.
我的工作内容就是稀释血液
I was filling up containers,
完全手动的做所有工作
doing so many manual things with hands.
而纳米容器的可怕之处在于
And the scary thing about the nanotainers was they could
他们随时可能从托盘掉在地上
hop off your tray and they would be on the ground,
你可能就没法用了
and you might not be able to swap them.