The Australian arm of a Brisbane-based biotech company that struck a $300 million deal to send COVID-19 home testing kits to the US has gone into voluntary administration.
A meeting of Ellume’s creditors is to be held later this month. Ellume’s US business is not affected.
Ellume rose to prominence last year when it signed an agreement with the US Department of Defense to provide COVID home test kits.
Last October, the company hit a hurdle when some of the test kits were recalled in the US after an increase in false-positives.
At the time, Ellume said an estimated 190,000 of the 3.5 million tests shipped to the US had been recalled.
It is not yet clear whether the recall has played any part in the decision to place the company into administration.
FTI Consulting’s John Park said he and Joanne Dunne were appointed to “maximise the chances of Ellume exiting administration process in an orderly fashion”.
“The administrators intend to trade the company on a business-as-usual basis, while we conduct an independent assessment of the financial position and ongoing viability of the business,” Mr Park said.
CEO and founder of Ellume Dr Sean Parsons (left) at their Brisbane laboratory. (ABC News: Jessica Rendall)
Ellume CEO and founder Dr…