SciKon Innovation, a pharma company working to pioneer human and animal primary cell culture devices into predictive model biotools, has filed for bankruptcy.
On Jan. 8, the the RTP-based firm filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in news first reported by the Triangle Business Journal.
At the time of filing, the company’s assets totaled under $43,000, with running debt of more than $606,000. The company also reported nearly $491,000 in revenue for 2019, primarily from government grants. In 2019 and 2018, those totals were $899,0000 and $887,000, respectively, also from grants, the report said.
SciKon was founded by 28-year Air Force veteran Lt. Col. Randall McClelland, Ph.D. As part of his military activities, McClelland is assigned to first response groups that scramble to evaluate how environmental hazards acutely affect human health. McClelland saw a need for better testing systems, and established SciKon in 2009 to create them.
The company had supplied human cell products to meet researchers’ needs for accurate and efficient systems that can model human biology in the laboratory, including responses to toxins.
“Simply put, we provide both the cells and the engineered tool-boxes needed to generate different types of disease responses, all within controlled environments,” its website says.
SciKon had been located at First Flight Venture Center.
In 2013, NC Biotech also awarded SciKon $3,000 in one of the Center’s eight Industrial Internship grants for the year. It also had a $750,000 seed round and a development deal with Singapore-based InvitroCue, an in-vitro cell-based assay services company.
