Embattled lab-testing startup uBiome Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday and put its assets up for sale after suspending testing of its clinical products, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The San Francisco-based company filed for chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., and said that it has lined up an $8 million bankruptcy loan to keep its business open while it looks for a buyer. The company, which is under federal investigation for its billing practices, laid off around half of its global workforce in July. UBiome had been trying to build a business on testing patients’ microbiomes based on emerging science that suggests microorganisms in the gut and other parts of the body can play a role in health. The startup had raised $83 million in a financing round from investors that included 8VC and Y Combinator. But the company has suspended the two lab tests for which it was billing insurance companies. Some of the companies had already largely or completely stopped paying claims. UBiome co-founders Jessica Richman and Zac Apte, who were earlier suspended from their positions as co-chief executives, resigned from the company’s board.
