Stock price down 88% Since Merger
BY RON SHINKMAN
Just six months after INVO Bioscience had completed its merger with NAYA Biosciences, the two companies are going their separate ways.
On April 14, NAYA Biosciences announced it was changing its name to INVO Fertility and focusing specifically on operating fertility clinics. INVO Fertility also said it would divest its majority stake in NAYA Therapeutics, which develops oncology biopharmaceuticals.
Smaller INVO acquired NAYA, will now spin off oncology division
The news came after the two companies had engaged in a reverse merger last October, with the smaller INVO acquiring the much larger NAYA. Under the terms of the deal, NAYA continued to operate as a subsidiary of INVO.
Currently, INVO Fertility operates the Wisconsin Fertility Institute, Bloom Fertility in Georgia and Innovative Fertility Specialists in Alabama, which generate virtually all of its revenue. The company also markets a proprietary product called InvoCell that aids women in undergoing fertilization through an intravaginal culture. INVO claims that its intravaginal fertilization process results in a higher success rate at a lower cost.
“Moving forward, we will leverage our existing, revenue-generating fertility operations…to acquire and build new centers across the U.S.,” said INVO Fertility Chief Executive Officer Steve Shum in a statement. “We believe the fertility market opportunity remains large and growing.”
According to INVO Fertility, NAYA “will return to being a privately held biotechnology company led by its management team and board.”
Shum did not respond to written questions about the reasons behind the decision and the future for his company, nor did NAYA’s chief communications officer, Lyn Falconio.
Stock price down from $14.88 per share to $1.75
Post-merger, the company appeared to be under stress. INVO Fertility’s stock price hit $14.88 per share the day the merger was completed. It is currently trading at around $1.75 per share, a drop of more than 88%. It delayed reporting its fourth quarter and full-year 2024 earnings due to issues finalizing its financial statements, and was also under threat of being delisted from the Nasdaq exchange.
INVO Bioscience has raised $12.3 million through private equity, including $7.5 million in 2023. It also raised about $9 million through an additional public offering back in January, a portion of which it used to help pay off its acquisition of the Wisconsin Fertility Institute last year for $10 million. The acquisition was consummated with a $2.15 million down payment, according to the Wisconsin Journal, and requires additional installment payments over the next three years.
NAYA, which trades as a separate stock issue, is now priced at around $2.20 per share.
$9.1M loss in 2024
The transaction had smacked the bottom line of INVO Fertility, which reported that costs related to the merger pushed up the company’s net loss in the fourth quarter of last year to $3.6 million, compared to $2 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Revenue for the quarter was $1.7 million, up from $1.4 million from the same quarter the prior year.
INVO Fertility reported a $9.1 million loss for all of 2024 on revenue of $6.5 million. In 2023, it lost $8 million on revenue of $3 million.
