uBiome has stopped running its only lab test after the troubled poop-testing startup laid off half its workers

Erin Brodwin

• uBiome has paused running its last remaining test, after laying off key workers on Wednesday, according to an internal message seen by Business Insider.
• The test, called Explorer, costs $89 and promises insights into the bacteria in an individual’s body, called the microbiome.
• uBiome had already stopped selling and processing its clinical tests, which require a doctor’s order.
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The troubled poop-testing startup uBiome has paused running its last remaining test, after laying off crucial laboratory personnel on Wednesday.

uBiome temporarily stopped processing samples for its Explorer test because the startup no longer has a lab director after cutting half its workforce, according to an internal Slack message seen by Business Insider. Explorer costs $89, and is available without a prescription from a doctor. 

"Due to the fact that we now lack a Laboratory Director, we have ceased processing of Explorer samples until we have a replacement," the Slack message seen by Business Insider reads. It was sent by Josh Raynes, whose LinkedIn profile identifies him as a clinical laboratory scientist at uBiome. Raynes declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider.

Curtis Solsvig, uBiome’s interim CEO, confirmed the temporary halt to Business Insider. "We have decided to pause processing of new Explorer samples until a new lab director is in place," he said in an emailed statement.

uBiome had already stopped selling and processing its clinical tests, which require a doctor’s order, after an FBI raid on the company in April. Earlier on Wednesday, a person familiar with uBiome’s plans told Business Insider that the startup was planning to keep its labs open. The company is still selling the Explorer test.

In all, uBiome cut 114 of the 229 people it employed on Wednesday. uBiome’s chief operating officer, Nathaniel Walton, was let go, as was Susan Zneimer, one of the company’s lab directors.

uBiome raised $105 million from investors on the promise of revealing new insights about individuals’ health from the bacteria in their body, known as the microbiome. The FBI raided the startup in April, as part of an investigation into uBiome’s billing practices, The Wall Street Journal reported. uBiome’s founders and top leaders departed in June, and replacements were brought in from the consulting firm Goldin Associates.

Read more: uBiome convinced Silicon Valley that testing poop was worth $600 million. Then the FBI came knocking. Here’s the inside story.

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See Also:

• Everything we know about uBiome, the startup that convinced Silicon Valley that testing poop was worth $600 million, and then saw its top leaders depart amid an FBI investigation
• ‘A s— show’: uBiome just cut half its staff as the troubled poop-testing startup searches for a path forward after an FBI raid
• Microsoft is forging alliances with the likes of Walgreens and a massive hospital system in its own backyard to win a bigger piece of an $11 billion market

DON’T MISS: ‘A s— show’: uBiome just cut half its staff as the troubled poop-testing startup searches for a path forward after an FBI raid

SEE ALSO: uBiome convinced Silicon Valley that testing poop was worth $600 million. Then the FBI came knocking. Here’s the inside story.

Source: Business Insider – ebrodwin@businessinsider.com (Erin Brodwin)