Allumiqs: from 2% a month to 9% a year, and from CRO to interim CEO

Allumiqs does contract research for drug developers from a laboratory in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Its chairman's affidavit describes the work as research on "molecules in living systems which include DNA and RNA," sold to customers pursuing precision medicine, rare-disease treatments and drug discovery for humans and animals, per the Affidavit of Peter Hickey, July 24, 2026, paras. 4–9. The laboratory belongs to an operating subsidiary incorporated in 2002 as Phenoswitch Bioscience Inc., which employs 16 full-time equivalents and generates substantially all of the group's revenue. The parent, Allumiqs Corporation, began in 2018 as Proteoform Scientific Inc., keeps the head office in Halifax, and functions, in the trustee's words, as "a cost centre," with three employees and three contractors, per the First Report of the Proposal Trustee, July 28, 2026, paras. 4–5, 7.

Both companies filed notices of intention to make a proposal under s. 50.4(1) of the BIA on July 3, 2026, with MNP Ltd. as proposal trustee, in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Bankruptcy and Insolvency, Hfx No. 555545/555546, per the First Report of the Proposal Trustee, July 28, 2026, para. 16. On August 28 Registrar in Bankruptcy Raffi A. Balmanoukian granted the financing, charges and extension the companies had sought since July, along with a sale process, per the Stay Extension, SISP, Administration and DIP Charge Order, Aug. 28, 2026, recitals. In the four weeks between, the interim financing was repriced and the chief executive replaced.

Three initiatives in 2025, special loans in May

Peter Hickey, then chairman of both boards, dates the distress to the close of 2024 and attributes it to a contraction in the United States market, where 90% of gross revenue originates; customers there cut spending and put off purchasing decisions. Through 2025 the companies raised $500,000 in equity, partly to satisfy a condition of a Business Development Bank of Canada venture debt term sheet. The BDC financing failed after about six months over, "among other things, concerns regarding forecasted sales performances on a go-forward basis," and a strategic acquisition pursued at the same time ended after about four months when the purchaser's due diligence raised the companies' historical ability to reach forecast sales, per the Affidavit of Peter Hickey, July 24, 2026, paras. 10–12. Mr. Hickey says the effort drew management away from "day-to-day commercial execution, which affected sales," that by early 2026 operating losses and "a leveraged balance sheet" had put the cash-flow deficits beyond conventional financing, and that in May 2026 the secured creditors placed the companies into special loans, which "required the filing," per the Affidavit of Peter Hickey, July 24, 2026, paras. 13–15.

Internal consolidated statements for the half-year to June 30, 2026 report revenue of approximately $2.57 million, EBITDA of approximately $90,909 and a net loss of approximately $101,304, against revenue of approximately $1.58 million and a net loss of approximately $866,381 a year earlier. The trustee reads that as improved operating performance "although liquidity remains constrained." The June 30 balance sheet shows total assets of approximately $6.37 million, total liabilities of approximately $7.07 million and a shareholders' deficiency of approximately $699,597, per the Second Report of the Proposal Trustee, Aug. 25, 2026, paras. 15–16. Setting aside $2,452,697 of goodwill from the PhenoSwitch acquisition, a $932,544 intercompany receivable and tax credits not presently available, the trustee's presentation of the May 31 standalone records shows approximately $2.84 million of assets against $7,276,281 of recorded liabilities, in a table it says is not a liquidation analysis or valuation opinion, per the Second Report of the Proposal Trustee, Aug. 25, 2026, para. 17 and Table 2.

Who is owed, and when they registered

The creditor lists filed with the notices put the parent's known claims at $3,396,975.84. The largest are listed under Neil Smith, at $1,585,000.00 of venture debt and a $110,000.00 shareholder loan, followed by Alexander Capital LP at $529,834.12, ACOA at $526,215.78 and BDC at $263,085.07, per the Allumiqs Corporation, Notice of Intention to Creditors, July 3, 2026, pp. 5–6. The subsidiary's list totals $3,126,197.00, led by Investissement Québec at $452,590.00, promissory notes held by Hugo Gagnon, a director of the operating company, and by another individual noteholder at $450,375.00 and $392,402.83, NextWave Corporation at $314,491.60 and Bank of Montreal at $165,613.45, per the Allumiqs Solutions inc., Notice of Intention to Creditors, July 3, 2026, pp. 5–8.

The Nova Scotia search attached to Mr. Hickey's affidavit, run July 23, 2026, shows four registrations against the parent: BDC's from June 2023; Andrew Neil Smith's on June 2, 2026; Kent MacLean, then chief executive, on June 26, 2026, under a demand promissory note dated March 30, 2026; and Alexander Capital, L.P. on July 2, 2026, under a demand promissory note effective June 29, 2025, per the Affidavit of Peter Hickey, July 24, 2026, Ex. "A", pp. 7–10. The trustee's collateral map is expressly preliminary and not a validity or priority opinion, per the Second Report of the Proposal Trustee, Aug. 25, 2026, paras. 38–39 and App. C, pp. 63–65.

The asset the July forecast leaned on was a federal SR&ED refund of approximately $420,642 against which Investissement Québec had already advanced $452,590, per the First Report of the Proposal Trustee, July 28, 2026, para. 11. It did not arrive as forecast. At the request of Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, the CRA set off $204,992.60 against a processed federal claim of $272,273.00, leaving $67,280.40 to be held by company counsel because Investissement Québec asserts security over the proceeds, and the Revenue Québec portion, estimated at approximately $150,000, was selected for audit, per the Second Report of the Proposal Trustee, Aug. 25, 2026, para. 24.

Two term sheets

The application filed July 24 asked the court to approve a term sheet with 4833651 Nova Scotia Limited and "Alexander Capital (or its nominee)" for $600,000, per the Notice of Application in Chambers, July 24, 2026, para. (b). Four days later the trustee's first report described the signed term sheet: lenders 4833651 Nova Scotia Limited and Shawn Weadock; $550,000 of principal behind a charge of up to $600,000; interest at 2% a month, rising to 3% on default; an $11,000 commitment fee; and a clause appointing Michael D. Mailman chief restructuring officer at $12,500 a month with "operational authority over the restructuring process," per the First Report of the Proposal Trustee, July 28, 2026, paras. 21, 23–24 and Table 1. The companies told the trustee that seven other Canadian DIP lenders had declined, for want of hard-asset collateral and because the loan was smaller than most would advance, and that other executives would take pay concessions to cover the CRO; the trustee verified neither. The same application sought a quarterly retention bonus of $20,000 for the president, Derek Gooderham, under an agreement dated July 24, 2026, per the First Report of the Proposal Trustee, July 28, 2026, paras. 22, 25, 46.

On July 31 the registrar extended the time to file to September 4, 2026, short of the September 17 the companies had sought, and adjourned "the remaining relief" to August 28 without recorded reasons, per the Stay Extension Order, July 31, 2026, recitals and paras. 2–3.