April 28, 2015
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Cambridge, Mass.-based OvaScience ’s recent fourth quarter and year end 2014 2014 financial results have analysts noting that Michelle Dipp, company chief executive officer and co-founder receives no salary, bonuses or other perks typical of people in her position. Not that she is going penniless—in 2014 she received $1.3 million in company shares and another $4.3 million in stock options.
OvaScience focuses on fertility treatment for women. It is built on the company’s proprietary tech platform, Egg PC, which are immature egg cells that were discovered inside the protective lining of the ovaries. In addition, it has developed a treatment, AUGMENT, which is used to improve egg health and is available in some countries.
The company’s pipeline includes OvaPrime, which is designed to increase a woman’s reserve of eggs, and OvaTure, a potential next-generation in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment that would not require hormone injections. It is not yet available in the U.S.
“The past year was transformational for OvaScience and, most importantly, for the fertility patients we serve globally,” said Dipp in a statement. “We introduced the first fertility treatment from our EggPC technology platform, the AUGMENT treatment, to patients in select international regions, providing women with a new option to address egg health during in vitro fertilization (IVF). In addition, we completed key preclinical proof-of-concept studies for our OvaPrime treatment, which we plan to introduce to patients in at least one international region by the end of 2015. We also demonstrated human preclinical proof-of-concept for our OvaTure treatment, which has now transitioned to development.”
The company went public in January 2015. As of Dec. 31, 2014, the company indicated it had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $60.2 million, which doesn’t include the $124.1 million in net proceeds from the January public offering.
OvaScience employs 52 people and has a market value of $1 billion. It has been noted that since Dipp co-founded the company in 2011, she has never taken a salary, which puts her in the company of business leaders like Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla Motors, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook, and Doug Parker, chief executive of American Airlines.
“I thought about OvaScience and the kind of company I wanted to create and the kind of CEO I wanted to be,” said Dipp in a statement. “Really, I just wanted this to be a demonstration of my commitment to the company.”
Prior to co-founding OvaScience, Dipp, 38, was senior vice president and head of GlaxoSmithKline ’s Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery.
OvaScience stock was selling for $45.83 on Jan. 2, 2015, hit a peak of $53.46 on Mar. 24, and is currently selling for a sharp drop of $28.33.
Stock analysts, for the most part, appear to be supportive of the company, noting that over the last 52 weeks the shares were up about 300 percent. That’s fairly dazzling, but in late march it was up 540 percent. Share prices dropped quite a bit, primarily in response to the release of somewhat confusing data related to the AUGMENT treatment, although it’s noted that seven of the company’s executives and directors bought company stock when the price dipped.
“I like this stock more on the pullback,” said Zarak Khurshid, analyst with Wedbush Securities in a statement. He indicates he expects the company’s revenues from $6 million this year to $40 million in 2016 and $98 million by 2017. He does, however, admit that the company may not become profitable until 2018.
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