PhotoTheranos, the embattled blood-testing company, announced on Wednesday that it would close its laboratory operations, shutter its wellness centers and lay off about 340 employees, around 40 percent of its work force. In making the announcement, Ms. Holmes, who founded Theranos as Silicon Valley’s answer to conventional blood testing, completed the pivot she first proposed this past August. On Wednesday, Ms. Holmes said Theranos would “return our undivided attention to our miniLab platform,” which she described as the production of “miniaturized, automated laboratories capable of small-volume sample testing.”The workers losing their jobs are in Arizona, California and Pennsylvania. A company spokesman said Theranos would have no additional comment beyond Ms. Holmes’s letter. The decision to abandon its clinical labs is the latest setback for Ms. Holmes, a self-made billionaire who founded Theranos when she was 19.

Source: New York Times October 06, 2016 02:24 UTC