Moonshot: Behind Spartan Bioscience s troubled mission to build a coronavirus test, and transform an industry ottawacitizen.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ottawacitizen.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Barely two months after its rapid COVID-19 test got the green light from Health Canada, Ottawa’s Spartan Bioscience says it is filing for creditor protection and cutting two-thirds of its workforce in the wake of a “higher-than-expected level of inconclusive results” from the device.
In a statement to OBJ on Tuesday, the company said it is laying off 61 of its roughly 90 employees and restructuring its operations as it works to “refine the performance of its COVID-19 test in the field.”
Spartan said it has “made the difficult but necessary decision” to stop shipping the product, which had already received tens of millions of dollars’ worth of orders from various governments and private-sector customers across Canada.
Spartan Bioscience files for creditor protection, lays off nearly 70% of staff obj.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from obj.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.