https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
Edit: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/ubiome-co-founders-char...
Nowhere here does it say the tech was fake. Mostly insurance fraud. I don’t think the label “theranos-lite” is correct.
What they did that was problematic was they basically offered the service with a nod and wink guarantee that they wouldn't bill you for the service, but would rather have a doc in their employ rubber stamp a "prescription" for the test, to then bill your insurance. They would bill insurance some fairly astronomical amount, too, like, IIRC, $3k-$4k. They'd warn you the entire time "if the insurance company sends you an EOB telling you there's a balance you may owe from us, don't worry, we won't charge you!"
Multiple layers of problematic, both with regards to how they threaded the needle to get a script written for the test to be defensibly "covered" by insurers, and the rates they were charging.
But at least the tech seemed validated and fairly accurate.
It seems like if your underlying technology actually works but you run the rest of your business with the same scams as Theranos, you qualify as Theranos-lite
That is dangerous and could have seriously hurt, or killed, someone. No amount of billing fraud, however egregious, could possibly match that level of irresponsibility.
Blood from a finger prick is just not homogenous enough to give accurate levels of pretty much anything Theranos said they could test.
The most egregious thing uBiome has been accused of doing basically amounts to insurance fraud, which isn't great but also isn't on the same level as lying to customers about the accuracy of the test results they've received.
Insurance fraud isn't what made Theranos "Theranos" at all, so I wouldn't call a corp doing that "Theranos-lite".
There were several useful tools on github and other sites: https://github.com/ubiome-opensource/microbiome-tools
https://blog.adafruit.com/2018/02/26/biohacking-comparing-mu...
https://microbiomeprescription.com/
I now use https://biomesight.com/ instead of ubiome.
But other than fancy scientist lingo, did they actually give you "recommendations for food, prebiotic supplements and lifestyle adjustments based on up-to-date research findings" ? Did they give you enough real information that you could actually adjust your life for better??
https://shop.biomesight.com/collections/frontpage/products/g...
I’ve been shifting my microbiome for the best part of a year, and boy is it difficult, especially if you have non-trivial issues. I think there’s a huge space here for potential startups that can start capturing research into actionable intervention steps (nobody is doing it well at the moment).