[washingtonismoney]

I think Theranos actually got initial FDA approval despite the fact that it's never disclosed any of its trade secrets--to the FDA or otherwise.  IIRC, prior incarnations of Theranos's board of directors were filled with political heavyweights, probably aimed at getting regulatory approval rather than providing oversight and technical expertise.

http://fortune.com/2014/06/12/theranos-board-directors/

That's not quite accurate. Theranos's herpes test got FDA approval, but not its other test. For that, FDA got data. However, FDA regulations are not strictly speaking relevant here. As a lab provider, it fell under CMS regulations. Holmes portrayed her decision to go to FDA as a way of demonstrating she was going above and beyond the call of duty.

Rumor mill is that a lot of the funding came from Larry Ellison and his investment arm Tako Ventures

No rumor; you can see that in their SEC filing, I'm pretty sure. Or it's been reported somewhere. Other investors included BlueCross BlueShield's VC arm.

[washingtonismoney]

I think Theranos actually got initial FDA approval despite the fact that it's never disclosed any of its trade secrets--to the FDA or otherwise.  IIRC, prior incarnations of Theranos's board of directors were filled with political heavyweights, probably aimed at getting regulatory approval rather than providing oversight and technical expertise.

http://fortune.com/2014/06/12/theranos-board-directors/

That's not quite accurate. Theranos's herpes test got FDA approval, but not its other test. For that, FDA got data. However, FDA regulations are not strictly speaking relevant here. As a lab provider, it fell under CMS regulations. Holmes portrayed her decision to go to FDA as a way of demonstrating she was going above and beyond the call of duty.

Rumor mill is that a lot of the funding came from Larry Ellison and his investment arm Tako Ventures

No rumor; you can see that in their SEC filing, I'm pretty sure. Or it's been reported somewhere. Other investors included BlueCross BlueShield's VC arm.