Vice President Joe Biden visits East Bay bio-technology firm

NEWARK, Calif. (KTVU) - Vice President Joe Biden visited a rising bio-technology firm in the East Bay Thursday afternoon to talk about the evolving nature of health care.

He walked through Theranos with the founder, Elizabeth Holmes.

Biden visited the bio-technology firm's Newark production facility to learn about the work being done there. "I'm glad because you can see firsthand what innovation is all about just walking through this facility."

Before he spoke, Biden toured the facility with Holmes in the lead.

She started the company in 2003, when she was just 19 years old and dropping out of Stanford.

Holmes took her tuition money and created a revolutionary blood test that requires mere drops of blood for a fraction of the cost of traditional tests. And Theranos just received FDA approval last week for a new kind of herpes test that could eventually be done at home.

"We can begin to make health information more accessible at the time it matters most. Our work at Theranos is fueled by our understanding what it means to say goodbye too soon," said Holmes.

The now 31-year-old billionaire was clearly thrilled that the Vice President had stopped by. "He is someone who I so deeply respect and am so inspired by the context of his service to our country."

Biden, who just lost his son to brain cancer, was obviously impressed by the technology and what it could mean in the future.

"You get the sense that the whole medical complex and industry is on the cusp of fundamental change that goes far beyond but encompasses what you are doing here."

Theranos' production facility is in Newark, just two towns over from Hayward. So, the Vice President also expressed his condolences to the family of police Sgt. Scott Lunger. "I just want you neighboring police departments here pass on that my heart goes out to the Lunger family and it's... No one fully appreciates the risk you take until something like this happens."

Biden concluded his time at Theranos with a healthcare roundtable discussion with the heads of local medical facilities, including Stanford School of Medicine and UCSF.