Aggregated News

A controversial Massachusetts life sciences company may be on its last breath.

Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester announced yesterday that it is vacating its Charlestown facility and not renewing its lease on a California research center as part of a plan to trim some $5 million to $6 million from its annual operating budget.

"The company plans to spend its remaining cash on the most advanced clinical programs," ACT chief executive, William Caldwell IV, said in a statement.

Life sciences executives in Boston said yesterday that it is difficult for stem-cell research firms to secure funding because their work focuses on unproven and potentially controversial science.

But those same executives also said Advanced Cell Technology's trouble could be linked to its history of making scientific claims that later could not be substantiated.

The company grabbed international headlines early this decade with reports of cloning human embryos and endangered species, but those experiments failed to live up to their initial hype.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in July, the company said it had $1 million in assets and $17...