Theranos is a health technology and medical laboratory services company based in Palo Alto, California that provides blood tests. health technology and medical laboratory services company based in Palo Alto, California that provides blood tests.

The company founded in 2003 by a sophomore student , Elizabeth Holmes. They used the money for research project to open a company. At the age of 19, Holmes left her sophomore year to start the company.

Theranos uses a fingerstick to draw a micro sample of blood into a cartridge, which is loaded into a local reader for analysis. The results are sent wirelessly from the reader to a secure database.The company says that the results are received faster than the usual three-day delay for centralised laboratory testing, up to 30 blood tests can be performed on a single blood sample,and its method ensures accuracy by eliminating or reducing most human handling and delays associated with traditional blood tests. Theranos initially targeted its blood testing services at clinical trials for new drugs, because frequent testing can provide early indication of whether a drug therapy is working or causing adverse reactions.

The fact that Theranos's technology uses such microscopic amounts of blood should eventually allow physicians far greater latitude when ordering so-called reflex tests than they have previously enjoyed. With reflex testing, the physician specifies that if a certain test comes up abnormal, the lab should immediately perform follow-up tests on the same sample to pinpoint the cause of the abnormality. Reflex testing saves patients the time, inconvenience, cost, and pain of return doctor visits and additional blood draws.Most important, Theranos tests cost less. Its prices are often a half to a quarter of what independent labs charge, and a quarter to a 10th of what hospital labs bill, with still greater savings for expensive procedures.