Elizabeth Holmes throws scientists under the bus - Ars Technica

Elizabeth Holmes would like the jury to know that scientists, at Theranos and at other companies, led her astray.

One of those scientists was Ian Gibbons, who led Theranos’ scientific research efforts.

Weeks ago, the jury heard testimony from scientists at Pfizer and Schering-Plough, which was acquired by Merck, saying that neither company had validated Theranos’ technology.

In her testimony yesterday, Holmes maintained that she thought Schering-Plough, and later Merck, held positive views of Theranos’ technology based on a call with one of the company’s scientists. .

To support that notion, defense attorneys showed an email from Holmes’ assistant summarizing a 2010 call with Constance Cullen, the Schering-Plough scientist who had been tasked with reviewing Theranos’ technology.

The assistant said that Cullen told Holmes to “feel free” to use her name when contacting other Merck scientists.

In previous testimony, Cullen said she was not impressed with Theranos’ technology and that she was swamped with work following Merck’s acquisition of Schering-Plough.

Though Pfizer had not validated Theranos’ technology, Holmes held out hope that a Pfizer executive’s call for “further interactions” would lead to a concrete deal, not just more meetings.

Holmes also said that she thought “our system was working well” after Gibbons sent her a report in 2008 that stated “assay results have been precise.”.