NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Circulating tumor cell test development firm On-Q-ity has closed its doors, according to a venture capital investor in the firm.
Rumors about the company's demise had circulated for several months. Former company officials and investors did not return calls from GenomeWeb Daily News seeking confirmation and comment recently. However, this week Bruce Booth, a partner at Atlas Ventures, one of the investors in On-Q-ity, wrote in Forbes that the board of the Waltham, Mass.-based company reached the decision to wind down the business in November. The final sale of its IP assets wraps up this month, he added.
On-Q-ity was formed in 2009, raising $26 million in a Series A financing round. According to Booth, though, both the science that formed the backbone for the company and the technology behind the company's platform proved to be costly to develop and validate, and as a result of problems with its platform, a marketing deal with Laboratory Corporation of America inked in early 2011 "fizzled."
During 2010 and 2011, On-Q-ity also saw extensive turnover among its management, and as 2012 began, it ran out of money. The company managed to raise $5 million in a Series B round in February 2012 and hired Mike Stocum as President and CEO at that time.
As 2012 approached its end, though, On-Q-ity again found itself low on funds, and the decision was made to shut the company down, Booth said.