Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes leaves after a hearing at a federal court in San Jose, Calif., on July 17, 2019. [Image courtesy of Reuters/Stephen Lam]
A former Theranos scientist testified on the inaccuracies of the company’s device during Elizabeth Holmes’ federal fraud trial.
Surekha Gangakhedhar worked at Theranos from 2005 to 2013 and reported directly to Holmes at one point. She testified on Friday that Holmes allegedly pressured her to validate blood test results to speed up a rollout of the Edison device to several Walgreens locations despite its inaccuracies, CNBC reports.
Gangakhedkar said that she returned from a vacation in August 2013 to discover that the company was on track to launch the Edison 3.0 and 3.5 in Walgreens stores. She resigned from the company the following month because she was uncomfortable with the pending launch and plans to test patient blood samples. Gangakhedkar met with Holmes before her resignation to discuss her concerns with the device and explained that the machines were not ready to be used on patients.