3-D Bioprinter Ramps Up; So Do Shares (PINK:ONVO)

Shares of Organove Holdings Inc (PINK:ONVO) have undergone a classic, textbook run-up: On April 30 the stock was at $2.31, a range it had held for a while, but as the Company began to add Sr. personnel, and its bio-technology began to get some media attention; the start-up released a May 15 10-K revealing some reassuring numbers and the stock took off: it’s trading today in the $9.24 range; a gain of 304% in less than two months.

Congratulations to all who bought in low, but considering the ONVO technology, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the run-up still had legs beneath it…  

First the May 15 numbers…

As of March 31, 2012, Organovo, Inc. had devoted substantially all of its efforts to product development, raising capital and building infrastructure. Organovo, Inc. did not, as of that date, realize significant revenues from its planned principal operations. Accordingly, the Company is considered to be in the development stage.
First quarter 2012 total revenues of $120,000 were $80,789, or 40%, below first quarter 2011 revenues of $200,789. Collaborative research revenues of $120,000 increased $46,135, or 62%, over the same period of prior year of $73,865.

That growth was more than offset by no grant or product revenues in the first quarter of 2012, versus prior year, same period grant revenues of $26,924, and product revenues of $100,000. Revenue is expected to fluctuate between periods as the Company is in the development stage.

As of March 31, 2011, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $339,607 and an accumulated deficit of $1,833,785. At March 31, 2012, the Company had total current assets of $10,834,703 and current liabilities of $1,110,948, resulting in working capital of $9,723,755.

“We believe our cash and cash equivalents on hand as of March 31, 2012, together with amounts to be received from grants and our collaborate research agreements, should be sufficient to fund our ongoing operations as currently planned for at least the next 12 months.”

Bioprinting…

Organovo is focused on delivering breakthrough three-dimensional biology capabilities to create tissue on demand for research and surgical applications. As the first company with a three-dimensional tissue technology that works across tissue types, ONVO is meeting the promise of regenerative medicine to fill unmet medical needs.

The Company’s  NovoGen MMX Bioprinter is a novel hardware and software platform at the forefront of bioprinting research and development. The NovoGen MMX was developed to meet challenges in biological research. By allowing creation of three dimensional biological structures, ONVO creates functional human tissue that is superior to current disease models. 

The platform takes primary or other human cells and shapes them into 3D tissue, with tremendous cellular viability and biology that is superior to even an animal model. The platform is being used by Organovo's Pharma partners today to enable cutting edge research into drug discovery.

And speaking of management pedigrees and rolling out the technology, on May 21 ONVO brought on Eric Michael David, M.D., J.D., as chief strategy officer. Dr. David was most recently associate partner at the consultancy McKinsey & Company, where he served private equity, pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostic, and medical device clients to support pipeline and R&D strategy, as well as market entry strategy.

I haven’t, don’t, and do not intend on holding any of the companies mentioned in this article.