💥New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Inotiv, Inc.💥
Acquisition spree leads to another bankruptcy; this one enters with widespread support
On June 3, 2026, West Lafayette, Indiana-based Inotiv, Inc. ($NOTV) and eighteen affiliates (collectively, the “debtors” and together with their non-debtor subsidiaries, the “company”) filed actually-prepackaged* chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of Texas (Judge Lopez). The company is a contract research organization that provides drug discovery and development services to pharma companies and the medical device industry. Oh, and they sell research critters to those folks too, 😭. A lot of ‘em apparently, for the six months ending March 31, ‘26,** the company did $238.5mm in revenue — ~$118.2mm from services and ~$120.4mm from “products.” Don’t fret though, the company is dedicated to “… the highest standards of scientific integrity and animal welfare.”
So. How did this virtuous company wind up in bankruptcy? A bold, new strategy embarked upon in ‘21. Tell us about it, CFO Beth Taylor:
“… the creation of a vertically integrated, full-service contract research organization capable of supporting the entire preclinical drug development continuum from early-stage target identification and discovery through regulatory submission-ready safety studies.”
Holy hell, first day decs all read the same. On that note, how they executed on that strategy is also boilerplate: over forty-eight months — from July ‘18 to July ‘22 — the company closed on fourteen acquisitions and racked up a sh*tload of debt:
Notice that “DOJ settlement” line too? It relates to “animal welfare.”
In June ‘24, the company signed a plea agreement with the ‘ol US of A, under which it pled guilty to violations of the Animal Welfare Act and the Clean Water Act and agreed to pay (i) fines of $22mm over four years and (ii) a cumulative $6.5mm to the Virginia Animal Fighting Task Force, the Humane Society of the United States, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
Anyway, the stock was cooked by then. The market hated the bold, new strategy (maybe the animal abuse too):