Dr. Koop LifeCare to Shut Down

Dr. Koop LifeCare Corp., the troubled Santa Monica-based online health information provider, said on Sunday it would cease operations and liquidate its assets after failing to come up with additional debt or equity financing.

One of countless online firms that soared on Wall Street during the 1999 Internet boom, the company said its efforts to obtain additional financing and sell certain assets were unsuccessful, leaving it with little choice but to shut its operations.

“The company’s present financial condition precludes it from meeting operating obligations necessary to operate as an ongoing concern,� the company said in a release.

The company said it would file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection while it worked through the liquidation process.

Under Chapter 7 protection, creditors will be paid from whatever proceeds can be generated from the company’s remaining assets. The company’s stockholders are not expected to receive any of the proceeds, Dr. Koop said in a statement.

Founded in 1998 by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, the company’s stock climbed as high as $45 a share shortly after going public the next year before starting a steady descent that tracked the company’s financial fortunes.

Designed to integrate health- care information with the ability to purchase products online, Dr. Koop failed to generate expected revenue and earlier this year turned its attention to launching a line of vitamin and herbal supplements.

Although the company was able to secure an additional $5 million in financing this fall, it failed to begin selling its supplements at the Vitamin Shoppe retail stores or through the Shop NBC TV network in time to generate much-needed new revenue.