Theranos posited the idea that you could do a bunch of very low cost tests from pharmacies. Whilst it has so far failed to deliver on this, that threat has changed the sector. There are now plenty more newbies who want to do the same, such as Brainshake, whose CEO we interview here.

But the real change will come from the reaction to all this from the major suppliers of diagnostic tests – groups like Roche and Siemens.  What Theranos demonstrated to them was that they could no longer simply churn out tests to be conducted in labs and hospitals by skilled staff.  To continue to plough this furrow, and no other, woud be foolish, almost negligent. They can not afford, for a moment, to lose billions of dollars of sales to disintermediarising upstarts.

That means that they, too, will eventually develop a new battery of low cost tests which can be carried out in a pharmacist, by the family doctor or who knows (?), eventually, the consumer.  And this, in turn, means that the role that big diagnostic labs play will have to change and change fast. Reference labs which carry out many thousands of esoteric tests may be safe. But the days when lab groups can depend upon a few, high volume tests for the lion’s share of their sales are fading.

And that we think has huge implications for the valuations which this autumns’ spate of auctions of European lab groups will achieve. Strip out mass tests and what is left? That is the question that any buyer should ask.