In his testimony, Cheung detailed his growing concerns that the company’s devices failed the quality control tests in the research lab, as well as what he said was data manipulation to pass quality control. . This made her question the capabilities of the startup’s proprietary testing machine, which she said was only used in a small number of tests at a time when the company’s revolutionary innovation was being considered.
Sometimes, he said, Theranos employees would delete up to two out of six data points as part of a test to pass quality control. He said no standard protocol appeared within Theranos for when external deletion was timely, but noted that it was something that happened “frequently” inside the company and said that “it would normally be considered a collection. Cherry picking “.
Cheung stated that she raised her concerns with the top companies, including a conversation with a senior Theranos executive, who said she fired her as unqualified to weigh. He said he was told he had little visibility of the company. Cheung left shortly after, just six months after first joining the blood testing start-up in 2013 as a recent college graduate.
Cheung took a stand for the first time on Tuesday as the government’s second witness in the long-awaited trial against Holmes, who faces a dozen charges of federal fraud and conspiracy charges for allegedly knowingly misleading investors, patients and doctors. about the blood capabilities of owning your business. technology testing. Holmes, who has pleaded guilty, faces up to 20 years in prison.
Many of the details of Cheung’s experience have stood out over the years, as he became a prominent figure in the history of the unfortunate startup. Cheung, who contacted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to examine Theranos in 2015, has appeared in “Bad Blood,” the definitive book about the company of then-Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou, which broke the story by first time. as well as the HBO documentary “The Inventor.” He has also given a TED Talk about his experience as a whistleblower.
He stated that he had “accumulated a lot of evidence” suggesting that the company’s technology was not adequate and that he did not feel comfortable doing patient testing. “I was trying to tell as many people as I could, but it didn’t seem to happen,” he said Wednesday, noting that ultimately, as a “final resort,” he spoke to a Wall Street Journal reporter, presumably Carreyrou, still that not by direct name, who contacted her about an investigation into the company.
The prosecution on Wednesday filed a chart that included internal data from March 2014 showing approximately 25% of the tests of Theranos’ proprietary devices that did not control quality. Cheung, who left the following month, stated that this differed drastically from the failure rate of third-party testing devices approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The latter rarely failed, he said.
During cross-examination, Holmes’s defense attorney, Lance Wade, attempted to highlight Cheung’s inexperience and qualifications as a recent college graduate, whose first job was to get her started. she explained the names and qualifications of her team’s superiors, including those with doctorates, medical degrees.
His interrogation against Cheung will continue when the trial resumes on Friday.
During the early hours of Cheung’s testimony on Wednesday, little direct mention was made of Holmes, but toward the end of his interrogation, prosecutors asked if he had considered talking to Holmes directly before he stopped worrying. Cheung stated that he had not done so, citing a close relationship with a colleague, Tyler Shultz, who was also denouncing Theranos and whose grandfather – former Secretary of State George Shultz – served on the company’s board. . Tyler Shultz, Cheung said, had sent Holmes an email about some of the same concerns he had raised, including quality control. (Cheung said Tyler Shultz had a closer relationship with Holmes, so she didn’t do it herself).
Cheung said she and Shultz also met with her grandfather, who has since died, to appeal to her about her concerns. Tyler Shultz is also an expected witness.
According to a court document filed last week, Theranos spent more than $ 150,000 on a private investigator to spy on Cheung and Shultz.