Walgreens Terminates Relationship with Theranos

Walgreens announced that it has informed Theranos that it will be terminating its relationship and closing operations at all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers at its stores in Arizona, effective immediately. This follows the company’s decision in January to halt Theranos laboratory testing services at its Palo Alto, Calif., location, and means Walgreens will no longer offer Theranos services at any of its stores.
 
Walgreens said it will be working over the next several days to help transition customers.
 
“In light of the voiding of a number of test results, and as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has rejected Theranos’ plan of correction and considers sanctions, we have carefully considered our relationship with Theranos and believe it is in our customers’ best interests to terminate our partnership,” said Brad Fluegel, Walgreens senior vice president and chief health care commercial market development officer.
 
In January, Walgreens informed Theranos that it must immediately cease sending clinical laboratory tests provided through its Wellness Centers at Walgreens to the Theranos lab in Newark, Calif., which has been the subject of ongoing CMS review.
 
At the same time, Walgreens also informed Theranos that tests collected at its Wellness Centers at Walgreens stores in Arizona must be sent only to Theranos’ certified lab in the Phoenix area or to an accredited third-party lab for analysis. No patient samples were to be sent to the Newark lab until all issues raised by CMS have been fully resolved.