Few Drops

"Many of our tests require only a few drops of blood."

Theranos made that promise to investors, retail partners, and the public. Elizabeth Holmes built a company around it, attracting a board of former cabinet secretaries and military leaders, deals with Walgreens and Safeway, and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. In Arizona and California, patients gave blood from a fingertip at Walgreens wellness centers.

Then the results began to come back. A physician saw a patient's PSA reading jump from under 2 to 26.1, then fall, then rise again, until a conventional test finally gave him a number he could trust. Months later, Theranos told him to disregard the high results. They were void.

Few Drops tells the story of Theranos through the evidence that survived it: sworn trial testimony, internal emails, regulatory inspections, and court rulings. It follows the people who were asked to believe, the employees who said no, and the long road to two criminal trials that ended in different verdicts. A jury convicted Holmes of defrauding investors, acquitted her of defrauding patients, and could not agree on three counts. Her partner, Sunny Balwani, was convicted on every charge.

Restrained, precise, and built from the public record, Few Drops asks how a promise became a business, and who was responsible for checking whether it was true.