♪ the good single-handedly move assigned to forward. even cure deadly diseases. but in 2013, a near disastrous blow to the fda yanked products off of the market. ceo had aat the public divorce from her husband. two years later, they made a remarkable comeback. with his first fda approved product. new funding.

today, ceo and cofounder and whiskey. the last two years for you have been crazy. it could have been disastrous for the company. but now, your back on good terms with the fda. how do you feel of how your right now i'm super proud of the company. when is a lot of work ahead of you and you're not courtesy a lot of rewards for a couple of years, it was hard. i feel agree are still climbing the empire state the link. there is a lot more to go. we are back on the market. product.n incredible we completely redesigned

everything. i'm excited this is the first chapter in the book. >> you have the first fda your.er approved test consumers can get test without going through a genetic -- it for is a test that recessive genes, things you can pass on to your kids. also other things, like i color. it teaches people about genetics and metabolism. love if you could take me back to the day when you got that letter. we were all in great moods here at wit hired a great number of people.

moment howafter that much there was a disconnect between what we saw and with the fda needed us to do. >> did you think you could lose the company? >> is probably about a six week time. where we talked to a number of lawyers, it became clear that there weren't -- that there was no easy option for. >> did you consider reselling the company? i am wedded to this company for the rest of my life. .'m not interested in selling it was a question of saying we need to refocus. when you to hire the right

people. we had a major miscommunication. >> it was an arduous process. you hired a regulation chief. how did you get there? >> it was me because the phone and calling everyone i knew and sing one of the right words to talk to d.c.? -- figure out what the path forward would be. had tremendous experience with genetic help. people could see the path that we were taking. people wanted to join on. >> the so much more you want to accomplish. like the test for alzheimer's and breast cancer. >> its top of my priority list. they really want those results. they want things that we are talking to the fda.

i don't have the updates on that. >> usual idea it was to give computer -- consumers access to the own the data. in a mass source stated that you can single-handedly move assigned to forward. you say you now have a million customers did exist a single biggest database out there >> it was exciting for me. if we have the world's health care data, everything about what you eat and how you exercise and your medical conditions and what you respond well to, with all this information, you can understand patterns. the geneticrstand basis of disease. you can understand the genetic bases of why you respond to therapy or don't. physician, we the see all the data you have given

us, you are of years away from being diabetic. that is my hope here. much data that you understand your predisposed risk. conscious choices of what you are doing on a daily basis to mitigate those risks. you are now officially divorced. you have two kids and two how you go through a process like that?

physicsdad was a professor. your mother was an educator. tommy about your upgrading -- upbringing. >> i grew up next to people who did not do things for money. they did things because they loved it. they are constantly questioning the get you question all the time, it was just court to made.

isn'tr sister epidemiologists. how do you relate to each other? >> nothing has changed. my sisters are still my sisters. every time they come for dinner, they still my clothes. especially my sister susan. we see each other and events all of the time. it is really fun. >> what you get is about your family and your upbringing that bread three successful daughters in completely different disciplines? >> it something we all love. we all learn to take feedback really well. there are very few things that you look and say to me that insult me or i take offense at. confidentrelatively your aunts house -- with

ourselves. we don't do anything just for the money. >> you want to yell. you majored in biology. you are competitive figure .kater and hockey player had >> i got a job on wall street. i really said no to the job. then i called them back and said i should go to wall street. everythingted in from birth to death. signs and hospitals, how the whole health care system work. the more i dug into it, the more i recognized it is a business. i went to one meeting back in were peopleere working on how they would maximize the billing outcomes

for patients coming in so they can take as much money home as possible. i realized the system is never going to change. for me, that is throwing in the towel. the health care system that i am seeing and investing in is not the one i want. for me, it was all about starting a movement where the consumer is actually has a voice. sergey.met >> i couldn't avoid him because he was already there. we would be washing dishes, and he would be there in the other room. i is to hang out with him. it was free food, it was fun. what was that like for you being on the front lines of google? the thing i was most inspired with was they didn't start it

because they wanted money. they started because they had the dream of having the world of information on the laptop. we could've sold the company and life would've been good. secondly, i would complain to larry about the health care status, and how much health care was dysfunctional. he said you are either part of the solution or part of the problem. that was a call to action. if it is bad, then fix it. one of the things you learned early on, was that -- predisposed for parkinson. out aroundovery came .he time we started i talked to external physicians about getting sergey tested. they talk me out of it. they asked me what i would do with the information.

i found that really offensive. how dare you tell me whether or not information is viable for me to it should be my choice. it's convenient that we had a really spectacular science team. they put the mutations that we were looking for on the chip. i remember sitting at the kitchen table, i signed -- call one of the scientists. surprised, he they had not seen people with two copies of that mutation. sergei had one. that information catapulted us onto a whole new journey. we were really involved in -- with michael j fox and parkinson's. you discover things that could help lead to a cure? >> we have some of who these the parkinson's team. we have projects that were

talking about understanding the genetic mutations specifically that sergei has. we're talking about what we can specific case. kidsu are not divorced, and companies between the two of you. how do you even go through a process like that? >> it's complicated. part of it is that divorce is never easy. we are very good friends. we see each other on a daily basis. we are very supportive of each other. is the new reality of relationships. >> you have any advice for other single, working moms? >> do the best that you can.

call, it's 10:00 and were eating ice cream. i think there are moments where it's hard to you do the best that you can do. you also have to be gentle on yourself, you can't do everything. you really optimize finding the best and everybody, and focus on the friendship. >> you live in the silicon valley bubble. you seem so normal. normal -- stay normal? >> i volunteer at the school. i make sure the kids do their homework. i see my family all the time. i see my friends. active on theally issue of women in technology. have you seen,ss and still needs to be done? tenure issue.

get -- need to everybody is really good at something. i think it is important that women understand that they have a multitude of different roles they could have in tech. our job is not to be intimidated. women, and, there's then there's -- there are men and women that you don't want to work with. you try to find the anchor people who will support you. about? you think

♪ >> i do want to talk to you about elizabeth holmes and the situation that is unfolding? >> i spent a lot of time with

her. i have a lot of respect for her. i have stayed out of knowing the details of it. i think health care is changing quite a bit. i think people are always going to be skeptical. >> i understand health care and what she is trying to do with it. it is hard. after 12 years, do you think should be more involved at this point? any center --into i think people want to understand the technology and the data. i get that concern. people are making life-and-death calls based on this data. they want to understand the why of why these things are happening. this is a $10 billion company. people think it is a fraud. do you think it is a fraud? >> i'm sure it is possible.

she is someone who works incredibly hard. i've seen her discipline, and how much she is working. i'm not close enough to the company to know enough about the technology. everyone is excited about the potential of new technology. >> how do you want that line between protecting your trade secrets and being transparent with the industry? >> she's not required to have the transparency that people are asking for it that is part of has putonnect the fda out guidance. call, then itir will be good to have that same transparency across all diagnostics. when you're in the middle of a crisis situation, it's hard to evaluate. that's right it's the media's job to dig in. when you have more fda

right now there's a lot of distraction. know share data with pfizer. the ideas to incorporate all of this data into drug discovery. how is that going? >> i love it. i'm super excited about it. ,or people who have a need parkinson's or chronic fatigue or any autoimmune disease, if we can use this data to translate into something meaningful, that is a spectacular reward for our customers. >> what diseases are you focused on? >> we have a number of partnerships we are doing with a number of pharma companies. >> are you going to do human

testing? >> pharma will react best if we can come to them with a target or a compound with some clinical background. some data of how that is functioning. there is a much higher likelihood of success if we can actually come with that level of information. >> you would do human testing? here, physically right but we reduce our own clinical research, for sure. ancestry.com does a similar thing. juicy google and calico as competition? >> no. everything we do is focused on genetics and engaging the consumer. calico is focused on the antiaging. i always wish these companies

well, as i think it will expand the entire industry and i wanted has a this information into really meaningful therapeutics. then we can come back the way hepatitis seat was cured, i want to say we discovered the cure for lupus. i want a cure that occurs because millions of us have come together and created data. >> dia plans to go public? >> i'm not eager to be a public company. i'm not opposed to it. it's a question of finding the right time. we'll figure it out. >> is anything you have done differently? >> o, for sure. every day. when you're playing there, you always make mistakes. we almost hired andy page five years earlier, and yeah, we should have. [laughter]

there are easier business models of what we have chosen to do. we believe in what we are doing. in the long run, it will have a massive impact on society. i think back and when we a lone, and we were voice with a megaphone. it would echo. the fact that it is happening, i see a super exciting world where -- almost like in 1996 when the internet was starting. it's virgin territory. it's all starting to sprout up. i think the really can be a consumer helper world that is spectacular. we can create something that is parallel to the existing world, but it will reflect more of what you and i want for our health care. much, it's great to have you. >> thank you.

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♪ francine: welcome to "leaders" with me, francine lacqua. pearson is an international publishing company with its biggest businesses in education and books. earlier this year, it sold two of its most well known brands, the "ft" and "the economist." in an exclusive interview, i speak with the group's ceo, john fallon, about his vision for the company and the impact of selling those established brands. john fallon, thank you so much for speaking to bloomberg. we have been talking about an "ft" sale for as long as i can remember. when did you decide it was for sale? john: i think there wasn't a single moment.