Test accuracy aside, isn't finger prick blood draw painful? I've had blood drawn both ways, and finger prick is very unpleasant. I'll pick arm blood draw any day.
The problem want the finger prick itself. The problem was that the nanotainer isn't that small and that they had to squeeze REALLY FUCKING HARD for quite a while to extract enough blood. It hurt for a while afterwards, too. And it was slow.
Wrt. the interview - if it were a public co. which i had stock of and i saw that moment at 0:22 - Shriver: "Do you think your company will survive?" Holmes: "Absolutely!" - i'd immediately sold it all. The delay and smile on Shriver's face when she in turn responds to question whether she believes Holmes is also telling :)
Walgreens i can guess is feeling how trial lawyers are gearing up for a class action on behalf of the customers who have had the testing done there.
Except the pain factor. Finger pricks are actually more painful, particularly when you have to draw more than a single drop of blood. Your fingers have more nerve endings than your upper arm. Also, you tend to use your fingers more than you apply pressure to your upper arm (e.g., typing, using your phone, playing the guitar - all of those require applying pressure to your fingertips, which will hurt).
Even diabetics oftentimes prefer to use the arm pricks, and they need to draw a lot less blood than more elaborate tests need. (Not all diabetics, but enough that there are literally blood glucose monitors that advertise this as a specific feature).
It certainly opens the possibility of self administration up a lot more than a needle.
Bit of a moot point until it comes along, though.
But... I grew up absolutely fearing and hating the finger prick thing the pediatrician would use. I remember getting all sorts of other scrapes and cuts that bled and wondering why they hurt so much less than that thing. From a practical perspective, if I knew a test involved that (rather than an arm draw), I'd delay and avoid it because of the pain.
I don't know what they're screening for, exactly, but there are people who live remote without immediate access to medical care. If they could do this prior to an office visit that may help. It opens possibilities that aren't already, and that's just in the context of the US. Think aid workers around the world, that would have to be easier than maintaining needle hygiene.