NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - Vermillion has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying the current "global liquidity crisis" has made it impossible to identify and raise necessary sources of capital.
Under chapter 11 bankruptcy, Vermillion is subject to the oversight and jurisdiction of bankruptcy court. The company will continue to operate its business with a skeleton crew of three employees and four consultants to be used on an as-needed basis and will also continue to seek approval of its ovarian tumor triage diagnostic test from the US Food and Drug Administration, it said in its bankruptcy filing with the US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
The company filed for bankruptcy on March 30. In the filing, the company said it had assets of about $7.2 million and liabilities of approximately $32 million as of Sept. 30, 2008.
As a result of the bankruptcy proceedings, virtually all of Vermillion's management team and board have either resigned or were asked to resign, including Gail Page, who was asked to resign as president and CEO of the firm. Page was elected as executive chair of the board, however, replacing James Rathmann, who retired from that post on March 25.
In 2006, Vermillion — then called Ciphergen Biosystems — sold its SELDI proteomics platform to Bio-Rad Laboratories for $20 million in order to remake itself as a diagnostic company. While the sale provided Vermillion cash in the short term, it also left the company without a revenue source as it worked to develop its diagnostic pipeline.
The firm filed for FDA clearance of the OVA1 Ovarian Tumor Triage Test in June 2008.
A more comprehensive version of this story is available via sister publication ProteoMonitor.