The company that cloned Dolly the Sheep put itself up for sale today after failing to agree restructuring plans with shareholders.
PPL therapeutics, which has already withdrawn from its cloning activities, said that although most of its major shareholders supported its plans for the future, the overall backing was not enough.
The news came as the Edinburgh-based company published results for the first half of this year that showed pre-tax losses more than doubling to £13.5 million sterling.
The group slid further into the red after taking an £8.1 million hit from its decision to put its emphysema-treatment programme on hold and cutting its workforce from 161 to just 55.
The group and its German-based partner, Bayer,announced in June they were putting a programme to develop "AAT" - a substance which protects the lungs from tissue damage which causes emphysema - on hold.
The move followed the sale earlier this year of its US-based regenerative medicine business that did research on stem cells. The company had already closed its Scottish-based stem cell research programme.
PA