Clock.Bio Ltd founder files Section 216 notice to carry on through clock.health Ltd
Founding director Dr Mark Kotter has filed a prohibited-name notice to continue Clock.Bio Ltd's business through clock.health Ltd after the Cambridge biotech entered administration in March 2026. Full notice and Companies House record.
Information for general guidance, drawn from the public record. Not legal, financial, or insolvency advice. If you are affected by an insolvency, consult a licensed practitioner or qualified solicitor.
Dr Mark Kotter, the founding director of Cambridge biotechnology research company Clock.Bio Ltd, has filed a prohibited-name notice declaring his intention to continue the business through a near-identical successor entity, clock.health Ltd, operating from a Girton, Cambridge address.
The notice was published in the London Gazette on 22 May 2026, following Clock.Bio Ltd's entry into administration on 11 March 2026. Administration is a formal insolvency process in which licensed insolvency practitioners take control of a company to rescue it, sell it as a going concern, or realise its assets for creditors. FRP Advisory Trading Limited is handling the administration, and the company's registered office has moved to FRP Advisory's address at 110 Cannon Street, London.
The Section 216 notice
Section 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986 prohibits a director of a company that has entered insolvent liquidation from being involved in another company using the same or a similar name for five years, unless one of the statutory exceptions applies.
Clock.Bio Ltd has entered administration rather than liquidation at this stage, but Kotter's notice anticipates the possibility that the company could go into insolvent liquidation. By filing under Rule 22.4 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016, he is using a permitted route that allows a director to continue operating under a similar name without committing a criminal offence or becoming personally liable for the successor company's debts, provided the notice is properly given to creditors.
The successor entity, clock.health Ltd, is based at Unit 1, Cambridge House, Camboro Business Park, Oakington Road, Girton, Cambridge. Kotter states in the notice that it is his intention to carry on the whole or substantially the whole of the business of Clock.Bio Ltd under that name.
The company and its directors
Clock.Bio Ltd, registered under SIC code 72110 for biotechnology research, was incorporated on 28 September 2020. Kotter was appointed as a director on the day of incorporation and remains in post.
Several other directors served and resigned before administration. Dr Michael Karl Boehler, based in Austria, was appointed on 25 July 2025 and resigned on 31 March 2026. Dr Piotr Romanowski, based in Poland, was appointed on 7 July 2025 and resigned on 21 April 2026. Jason Daniel Whitmire, based in Germany, was appointed on 29 February 2024 and also resigned on 21 April 2026. Markus Gstoettner, also Austrian, served from 29 February 2024 until 31 December 2025. Dr Bernhard Klemen served from 8 September 2022 until 18 April 2024, and Florian Schuster from incorporation until 18 April 2024. Daniel Jeremy Ives was appointed at incorporation and resigned on 26 May 2021.
At the point of administration on 11 March 2026, Kotter was the sole remaining active director.
What the notice means for creditors
The notice is addressed directly to the creditors of Clock.Bio Ltd. Its legal purpose is transparency: creditors are told that the person who ran the insolvent business intends to carry it on through a company with a name so similar it would otherwise be prohibited. Creditors who wish to engage with the administration should contact FRP Advisory Trading Limited at 110 Cannon Street, London, EC4N 6EU. A proof of debt, the formal claim form a creditor submits to the administrators evidencing the amount owed, is the appropriate next step for those with outstanding claims against Clock.Bio Ltd.
No secured charges are registered against Clock.Bio Ltd at Companies House.
Common questions
Are you a director of the successor company?
A prohibited-name Gazette notice typically documents one of the three statutory exceptions to Section 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the rule against re-use of a similar name by a former director of a liquidated company). The exception is only valid if the notice meets the timing and content requirements in the relevant Rule. Read more on prohibited names.
Do you trade with the successor company?
A valid notice does not by itself revive the liabilities of the liquidated company. The successor company is a separate legal entity and the directors are personally exposed only if Section 216 is breached.
Sources
- The London Gazette notice (code Moratoria, Prohibited Names and Other: Re-use of a Prohibited Name)
- Companies House record 12909273
- Editorial standards: how we source and review; five-pass pipeline.
