Embattled blood testing company Theranos, once a darling of the biotech startup community, has suffered its share of grief in the past year. But at least one high-profile operation isn’t ready to toss the firm by the wayside: Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Re/code reported on Monday that Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is hosting a fundraiser for the Democratic frontrunner next week featuring the candidate’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton. The event is slated to take place at Theranos’ headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Coins2Day reached out to both Theranos and the Clinton campaign to confirm the specifics of the fundraiser and will update this post if they respond.
The reported details are fairly typical, including tiered contributions ranging from $100 to $2,700 and opportunities to meet with the former First Daughter (Hillary Clinton is not expected to attend). But the idea of the fundraiser itself may raise some eyebrows given the regulatory roadblocks Theranos has recently encountered.
The company’s finger-prick blood testing technology, once hailed as potentially game-changing, has been challenged by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal while the firm itself has been forced to fend off regulatory scrutiny from the FDA and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Theranos’ promises ensuring third-party validation for the tech have been slow to materialize.
The most concerning prospect for Theranos involves the pharmacy giant Walgreens (WBA) potentially cutting off its formidable relationship with the blood testing upstart.
Hillary Clinton has collected more than double the pharmaceutical industry donations of any other 2016 competitor during this election cycle.