Warren, NJ 8/17/17—Publicly held Roka Bioscience, a provider of food safety testing solutions, has agreed to sell its assets to Rokabio, a newly formed subsidiary of the Institute for Environmental Health (IEH), for $17.5 million in cash. IEH supplies risk management services for the food industry. Roka stated that this is the first step in a possible plan to liquidate the company. 

The company’s Atlas Detection Assays and Atlas instrument for fully automated foodborne pathogen by testing rRNA, mRNA and DNA. In 2016, the company generated revenues of $7.2 million, a 21.0% increase, and an operating loss of $29.5 million, but its stock price has plunged from a high of $46.90 per share in the first quarter 2015 to a low of $1.43 as of August 25. For the six months ending June 30, Roka recorded a 66% increase in operating loss to $24.7 million. The company completed an IPO in 2014 (see IBO 7/31/14).