purposes, rather than for delivering patient results, I asked if one of
them was the Siemens ADVIA. He declined to comment, citing trade
secrets. I then asked whether Theranos ran small finger-stick samples
on the Siemens ADVIA with a special dilution protocol. He again
invoked trade secrets to avoid answering the question but argued that
diluting blood samples was common in the lab industry.
From there, the discussion went in circles. These questions were at
the heart of my story, I said. If they weren’t prepared to answer them,
what was the point of our meeting? Boies replied that they were trying
to be helpful but that they would not reveal what methods Theranos
employed unless we signed nondisclosure agreements. Those were
secrets Quest and LabCorp were desperately trying to find out by any
means possible, including industrial espionage, he claimed.
As I continued to press for more substantive answers, Boies grew
angry. He was suddenly no longer the amiable grandfatherly figure. He
growled and flashed his teeth like an old grizzly bear. This was the
David Boies who inspired fear in his courtroom adversaries, I thought
to myself. He took a swipe at my reporting methods, saying I had
asked some doctors loaded questions that were damaging to Theranos.
That sparked a tense exchange between us. We stared each other down
from across the table.
Jay Conti jumped in to defuse the situation but was soon sparring
with King and Brille. Their argument took an almost farcical turn.
“It just feels like you want us to give you the formula for Coke in
order to convince you that it doesn’t contain arsenic,” King said.
“Nobody’s asked for the formula for Coke!” Jay replied, annoyed.
More arguing ensued over the issue of what legitimately constituted
a trade secret. How could anything involving a commercial analyzer
manufactured by a third party possibly be deemed a Theranos trade
secret? I asked. Brille replied unconvincingly that the distinction
wasn’t as simple as I made it out to be.
We turned to my questions about the Edison. How many blood tests
did Theranos perform on the device? That too was a trade secret, they
said. I felt like I was watching a live performance of the Theater of the