Ian Gibbons (biochemist)

Ian Gibbons was a biochemist and the chief scientist of Theranos, a health technology company now known for its false claims to have devised revolutionary blood tests using very small amounts of blood. His job was to make the company's seemingly feasible but ultimately unworkable technology a reality.

Education and early career

Gibbons was British and held a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge. He spent 30 years working on diagnostic and therapeutic products at various technology concerns incluing Biotrack Laboratories, where he worked with Channing Robertson, who later recommended him as the first experienced scientist hired by Theranos. At Biotrack, Gibbons, Robertson, and others invented and patented a mechanism to dilute and mix liquid samples, abilities which would become key in Theranos processes.[1][2]

Employment at Theranos

Brought in by CEO Elizabeth Holmes in 2005 as the company's chief scientist,[3] Gibbons was the first experienced scientist hired,[1] with the title "Senior Director, Assay Development".[4] (An assay is the laboratory term for a blood test.)

Company culture

While leading Theranos's chemistry work, Gibbons gave the staff informal lectures on biochemistry and the science of blood testing. As chief scientist, he insisted that blood test results from the Theranos devices being developed match benchmark results from a collection of competitors' commercial analyzers maintained in a separate lab known by some as "Jurassic Park". The Theranos results often did differ, sometimes wildly, frustrating Gibbons. His high standards became a source of friction between him and Theranos engineers and management. At Theranos, any employees who questioned the accuracy of the technology were warned by senior management "this must stop."[3] As Gibbons grew more desperate to solve the product problems, he confided to his wife that nothing at Theranos was working.[1]

He was troubled by Holmes' management style of discouraging departments within the company from communicating with each other—the time-honored approach to solving technical problems and working toward common objectives. The reason given for such information siloing was that the company was operating in "stealth mode" to protect its trade secrets.[3]

Gibbons had heard Holmes lie to employees and outsiders about the readiness of the company's technology, and knew of faked demonstrations to potential clients. He no longer trusted Holmes. Still, he worked tirelessly, struggling to make the flawed Theranos technology catch up to the hype.[5][1]

In the fall of 2010, word of his complaints and frustrations got back to Holmes, who fired him. Several of his colleagues lobbied on his behalf and he was quickly rehired, but with reduced responsibilities, as a technical consultant to the chemistry group he formerly headed.[3]

Patent dispute

Inventor-entrepreneur Richard Fuisz was a former friend and next-door neighbor of the Holmes family. The two families had fallen out, and a Fuisz offer to help Holmes with her invention had been declined.[6] Fuisz studied all that was publicly available regarding the Theranos technology, and identified a desirable but missing feature. He filed a patent for a physician-alert mechanism that could be embedded in Theranos devices, something that would complicate Holmes' vision of putting the devices directly into consumer homes. When Theranos learned of the filing, it sued Fuisz, alleging patent theft.[3][1]

Gibbons was named as co-inventor with Holmes on many Theranos patents. When researching his defense to the Theranos lawsuit, Fuisz noticed similarities between Gibbons' Biotrack patents and some Theranos patents filed more recently. Suspecting improper reuse of past work, he added Gibbons' name to his list of witnesses to be deposed.

When Gibbons learned he would be subpoenaed to testify, he became nervous and depressed. He wanted to avoid being deposed, afraid his job depended on his testimony. If he told the truth about the problem-racked state of the Theranos technology he'd be fired, and at age 67 unlikely to find another job. So, if he told the truth he'd harm himself, the people he worked with, and the company. If he lied, patients using Theranos technology would be exposed to misdiagnosis, danger and even death.[1]

Death

On 15 May 2013, Gibbons was notified to appear at the Fuisz lawyers' offices on 17 May to give a deposition. Theranos had been actively discouraging him from testifying, and a Theranos lawyer emailed him a draft doctor's note that could be adapted to excuse him. Sometime in the evening of 16 May, Gibbons took a massive overdose of acetaminophen, washed down with wine. The following morning, his wife discovered him in the bathroom unconscious and barely breathing. He died in the hospital on 23 May 2013, his liver destroyed. When his grief-stricken wife called Holmes' office to report his death, she received not a callback from Holmes but an email from a Theranos lawyer requesting she immediately return his company laptop and any confidential information he might have had.[1]

Biography at Theranos website

In 2012, Gibbon's biography at the Theranos "Management" web page read:

Ian Gibbons, PhD, Senior Director, Assay Development
Ian Gibbons has spent thirty years in research and development of diagnostic and therapeutic products, developing more than twenty products in five major product families. He is the author of forty published scientific articles and inventor on some sixty patents and patent applications. Before joining Theranos, Dr. Gibbons worked on Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, Infectious Disease Diagnostics and Novel Non-Separation Assay Technology at Syva Company. He also developed Point-of-Care Assays for Monitoring Drugs for Biotrack, A Hematopoietic Stem Cell Purification System for AmCell, and A Multiplexed Assay System for Hospital Point-of-Care Diagnosis and Prognosis at First Medical. Ian received both a BA and MA in Biochemistry and Chemistry and a PhD in Biochemistry from Cambridge University in England.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Carreyrou, John (21 May 2018). Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-1524731656. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ↑ Gibbons, Ian; Hillman, Robert S.; Robertson, Channing R.; Allen, Jimmy D. (1990-08-07), United States Patent: 4946795 - Apparatus and method for dilution and mixing of liquid samples, retrieved 2018-07-23
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Bilton, Nick (6 September 2016). "Exclusive: How Elizabeth Holmes's House of Cards Came Tumbling Down". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  4. ↑ "Investor Pitch Deck (slide show) A Presentation For Investors". SlideShare. 1 June 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  5. ↑ Mole, Beth (23 November 2016). "Beyond business: Disgraced Theranos bloodied family, friends, neighbors". Ars Technica. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  6. ↑ Cassens Weiss, Debra (14 March 2014). "Patent theft suit blames former McDermott partner; defense sees "smoke and mirrors"". ABA Journal. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
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