Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

By early 2010, in the wake of the Great Recession, low interest rates had pushed many smart East Coast investors out of corporate bonds and into Silicon Valley startups. The startling successes of Facebook, Twitter, and smartphones suggested that high tech was the next gravy train. One of these investors was physician Jay Rosan, a Walgreens executive known as “Dr. J” who was searching for new ideas for the drugstore chain, saw a demonstration of the Edison blood reader, and became enthralled. Usually slow to commit, Walgreens moved quickly on this project largely due to Rosan’s enthusiasm for it. He brought a team to Palo Alto to finalize a $75 million partnership that would put Edison blood readers into as many as 90 Walgreens stores by mid-2011.

Walgreens team member Kevin Hunter, an MBA from a family of pharmacists, noticed some disturbing things. During the meeting, Elizabeth politely refused to show the lab to the visitors, citing security concerns. When Hunter asked to use the bathroom, Sunny walked him there and stayed with him, again for reasons of security. Elizabeth also turned down a request to demonstrate the Edison with a simple Vitamin D test.