Business News: Live Updates on Stock Market and Federal Reserve

 

Erin Griffith

A funny thing about TV trials is that they explain the objections in normal language but in real life they say things like “objection, this is 702 territory” or “same 406 from last time your honor.”

 

Erin Griffith

We get a side by side of the report, one with Theranos logo on it and one with the Theranos and Pfizer logos on it. Would it be fair to say in 2010 or after that Pfizer endorsed Theranos’s technology or comprehensively validated Theranos’s technology? Weber: “No”

 

Erin Griffith

Now we see an email from Walgreens to Pfizer, which includes the validation report I mentioned above where Theranos put Pfizer’s logo and implied its approval. Weber said he hadn’t seen this before the feds showed it to him.

 

Erin Griffith

Weber called Elizabeth Holmes to tell her Pfizer wasn’t going to work with Theranos. In an email to a colleague, he said “I was polite clear crisp and patiently firm as she pushed back.” Writes that Holmes asked for other names at Pfizer to talk to and he “politely deflected.”

 

Erin Griffith

The document further lists six technical due diligence questions that Weber asked Theranos execs on a phone call, and concludes their answers were “oblique, deflective or evasive non-informative answers.”

 

Erin Griffith

Most of Weber’s answers have been very technical and full of jargon sure to confuse jurors but that list of adjectives hits pretty hard. (Defense tried to object.)

 

Erin Griffith

Further in his summary, Weber says Theranos’s conclusions are “not believable” and calls the company’s answers to due diligence questions “non-informative, tangential, deflective or evasive”

 

Erin Griffith

(Recall that last week we saw a document with Pfizer’s logo on it that implied that the company validated Theranos’s technology, which Holmes used to solicit investment from Walgreens and others)

 

Erin Griffith

After talking with Elizabeth Holmes and reviewing a bunch of documents (including a patent), Weber created a summary report on the use of Theranos technology. Believe this is the report the defense didn’t want shown to jurors, and the judge allowed Page 1. Weber’s recommendation: “Theranos does not at this time have any diagnostic or clinical interest to Pfizer.”

 

Erin Griffith

We begin with a series of emails establishing why Weber was involved with Theranos at Pfizer — his role was to make a recommendation to the company about its technology. “We were looking for diagnostic capabilities that would open the door for more effective intake of patients.”

 

Erin Griffith

The U.S. has called Shane Weber, who was a scientist at Pfizer. He is speaking loudly and clearly into the mic and for that I thank him. 🙏

 

Erin Griffith

Sounds like we’ll be hearing from our first investor (aside from Walgreens): Brian Tolbert of the investment firm Hall Group is likely to testify today.

 

Erin Griffith

🩸 Back in court for the fraud trial of…