uBiome Headed For Chapter 7 Liquidation
uBiome Headed For Chapter 7 Liquidation
UBiome Inc. (San Francisco), which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in early September, has moved to a liquidation under Chapter 7, after unsuccessful attempts to secure new loans or find a buyer.
The company was founded in 2012 and had marketed its top-selling SmartGut test directly to consumers by email and online ads. Patient test orders were signed off by remote physicians via a telemedicine service. SmartGut is a stool test that costs $2,970 and purportedly identifies microbes in the gut for patients with chronic gut conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s Disease.
In late April, the FBI raided uBiome’s headquarters to investigate allegations that the company may have billed insurers using inaccurate codes to increase the likelihood of coverage and higher reimbursement. More recently, it’s come to light that the patient database used to validate Smart-Gut was populated by samples volunteered by employees and participants in an online fundraiser and were tainted by a number of specimens taken from infants and pets.