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Sunstone Medical Research goes out of business Friday Oct 14, 2016 at 3:57 PM Oct 14, 2016 at 3:57 PM Greg Stiles Mail Tribune @GregMTBusiness Sunstone Medical Research, which conducts clinical trials for pharmaceutical firms, will close next month. Sunstone President Hank O'Dougherty said an attempt to sell the company to a national organization didn't materialize, signaling the end of the research facility that spun off from Medford Medical Clinic six years ago.  Doctors E. Clark Cullen and Christopher Alftine launched Sunstone in 2009 after beginning their work four years earlier. "We just weren't getting enough participants to take part in our research to make it economically viable," O'Dougherty said. "I'm bummed because we won't be able to contribute to new medical solutions, but you can't do it at a loss." Sunstone's staff conducted trials on a variety of ailments, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, opioid-induced constipation, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer's and eating disorders. But with a relatively small population to draw from, few people participated. "When you can't get enough people into studies, there's not enough money to pay the bills," O'Dougherty said. "Of late, we haven't been able to randomize enough subjects to make it break even." Another strike against the clinic was that fewer new studies are being launched on a national scale that pertain to the staff's expertise. He said the center is no longer taking patients, and its work will be wrapped up by mid-November. O'Dougherty said the 4,953-square-foot building at 1700 E. Barnett Road is being marketed to possible occupants. "We'd prefer to lease it," he said. "But we may sell." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31