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Decision Biomarkers Closes Shop, Files for Bankruptcy

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Protein biomarker technology firm Decision Biomarkers has closed up shop and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Decision, based in Waltham, Mass., filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 22 in US Bankruptcy Court in Boston. Decision's website indicates that the company had closed its doors as of Dec. 2, 2009.

"There are several companies interested in the technology and we are hopeful the business will be reconstituted in the near future," Decision said on its website.

Unlike Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows a company to reorganize its business while being protected from its creditors, Chapter 7 bankruptcy is generally sought when a firm cannot pay its debts and its creditors.

In documents filed with the court, Decision said it had assets of up to $50,000 and liabilities greater than $1 million but less than $10 million. It also listed 90 creditors, including Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Fisher Scientific, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and PerkinElmer.

A meeting has been scheduled for Jan. 20 in bankruptcy court.

Founded in 2003, DB, which originally went by the name Clinical Microarrays, had transitioned from being an R&D shop to a commercial operation in late 2007 with the placement of its Avantra Q400 Biomarker Workstation with an undisclosed drug firm. The platform had been in development since the company's creation.

The company raised $7.5 million in a first round of Series A financing in 2005 and $7.6 million in a second tranche in 2006.

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