On Tuesday, June 15th, INVO Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: INVO), a medical device company focused on commercializing the world’s only in vivo Intravaginal Culture System (IVC), INVOcell®, an effective and affordable treatment for patients diagnosed with infertility, announced further foundational progress as they appointed of Andrea Goren as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer. This move further supports INVO Bioscience’s initiatives to increase access to care and expand fertility treatment and patient care across the globe. In a career approaching 27 years, Mr. Goren has extensive experience in numerous financial functions, including service as a public company CFO, company director, capital raising activities as well as mergers and acquisition experience. Mr. Goren has served as managing director and CFO of Phoenix Group, a New York City-based private equity firm specializing in micro-cap and nano-cap public companies. He served as vice president of Shamrock Group, the Roy Disney family private investment firm in London; and was a director at New York City-based Madison Capital Group, a corporate advisory firm focused on U.S. / European Union cross border transactions. Mr. Goren holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut, and an MBA from the Columbia Business School in New York City.
Andrea Goren is also a third-generation supporter of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and a member of the first cohort of AABGU’s Zin Fellows Leadership Program. Andrea recently became Treasurer of AABGU. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is one of Israel’s leading research universities and among the world leaders in many fields. It has around 20,000 students and 4,000 faculty members in the Faculties of Engineering Sciences; Health Sciences; Natural Sciences; the Pinchas Sapir Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management; the Joyce and Irving Goldman School of Medicine; the Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies; and the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies. More than 100,000 alumni play important roles in all areas of research and development, industry, health care, the economy, society, culture and education in Israel. Through its technology transfer company, BGN Technologies, which is also responsible for the University’s patent portfolio, the University initiates, leads and implements projects with institutions, companies and foundations world-wide, and attracts strategic partners and investors in the fields of science, technology and industry, including homeland security; bioinformatics; robotics, energy and fuels; ergonomics; cyber security; nanotechnology; water resources; ecology and environment, human genetics; epidemiology; stem cells; diabetes; cancer; advanced drugs; biotechnology and agricultural technology; information technology and communications; environmental water treatment; and alternative energy sources.
Alexander M. Goren, Andrea’s father, is a managing partner at Goren Bros., a money management and real estate company. Alex and his family have been deeply involved with BGU since 1972, a commitment culminating with service as Chairman of the Board of Governors of BGU between 2012 and 2019 and an honorary PhD in 2015.
Andrea Goren, Chief Financial Officer of INVO Bioscience (NASDAQ: INVO)
“I am pleased to be joining INVO Bioscience in a full-time capacity as the chief financial officer. Having consulted with the company over the past year, I am well aware of the opportunity ahead for us to disrupt the fertility market through our revolutionary INVOcell device. I look forward to working with Steve and the team to further advance our INVO clinic strategy, and further adoption of the solution across globe,” stated Andrea Goren.
Steve Shum, CEO of INVO Bioscience (NASDAQ: INVO)
“We are pleased to appoint a financial executive the caliber of Andrea Goren as chief financial officer of INVO Bioscience. Andrea has been serving INVO over the past year in a consulting capacity and thus is familiar with the operations of the company, including many within the finance function. As he takes over as our permanent CFO, he will continue to interface with our current outside CFO consulting firm to assure a seamless transition. His well-rounded skill set will benefit INVO as we continue to successfully execute on our strategic business plan, including the operational launch of our various company-owned INVO clinics set for the second half of this year,” stated Steve Shum, CEO of INVO Bioscience.
INVO Bioscience (NASDAQ: INVO) is a medical device company focused on creating simplified, lower cost treatments for patients diagnosed with infertility. Their solution, the INVO® Procedure, is a disruptive new technology. The INVO Procedure is a revolutionary in vivo method of vaginal incubation that offers patients a more natural and intimate experience. Their lead product, the INVOcell®, is a patented medical device used in infertility treatment and is considered an Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). The INVOcell is the first Intravaginal Culture (IVC) system in the world used for the natural in vivo incubation of eggs and sperm during fertilization and early embryo development, as an alternative to traditional In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). Their mission is to increase access to care and expand fertility treatment across the globe with a goal to lower the cost of care and increase availability of care.
On May 17, INVO Bioscience (INVO) announced financial results for the first quarter of 2021 ended March 31, 2021 and provided a business update. Steve Shum, Chief Executive Officer of INVO Bioscience stated, “This was an exciting start to the year 2021 for INVO Bioscience as we advanced our INVO Clinic strategy with the signing of our first U.S.-based INVOcell exclusive facility in Birmingham, Alabama, the signing of a partnership agreement to establish and operate a center in Northern California, and the completion of our product registration in Mexico. We expect these initial centers to become operational in the second half of the year. Throughout this year, we have expanded our real-world experience data and positive results with INVOcell, enhanced our online training tools, materials, and capabilities and have experienced a substantial increase in active training sessions for our international partners and distributors. We believe the combination of strong commercialization partnerships and company-owned clinics, both in the U.S. and around the world, is key to expanding INVOcell’s adoption within the fertility industry. In addition to the progress made executing new commercialization agreements, we have strengthened our marketing capabilities to support the INVOcell-only centers and our growing number of distribution partners. Meryle Lynn Chamberlain, a tenured women’s health and fertility solution marketing professional, joined us as Director of Marketing in March 2021, while Rebecca Messina, current Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Co. and former Global Chief Marketing Officer at both Uber and Beam Suntory joined our board of directors in April 2021. As we look to increase access to care and expand fertility treatment across the globe, our market positioning and overall strategies are more important than ever. The addition of Meryle Lynn and Rebecca will enhance our ability to successfully accomplish these goals. As we look to the remainder of 2021, we have set a number of key objectives, including the opening of our first company-owned clinics in Mexico and the United States. Additionally, we will seek to build our international revenues this year through our growing list of international distribution partners as they finish training, and we complete local product registration requirements. Of note, we are extremely pleased to see the initial INVO procedures performed recently in Spain and Malaysia, which reflects the groundwork done by our team in these specific markets, which we believe will help in further expanding the overall awareness of the potential outside of the U.S. Finally, we are continuing to advance our 5-day label expansion efforts with the FDA in the U.S. market with a goal of completing this effort in 2021. It remains our belief that there is strong global demand for fertility services and INVOcell is well-positioned through our growing, global footprint to play a key role in helping to turn the dream of creating a family for millions of people around the world into a reality through our accessible, efficient, and affordable fertility treatment.”
On April 13th, Mr. Steve Shum, Chief Executive Officer in CEO of INVO Bioscience (NASDAQ: INVO) delivered a presentation titled “Democratizing Infertility – A Severely Underserved Global Market” at the Tribe Public’s Webinar Presentation and Q&A Event. He was also available for a 5-10 minute Q&A session at the end of the presentation. Please view the even video now at this link.
VISTA’S KEY POINTS ON INVO
- INVO operates within the ~$15-$18 Billion global infertility industry growing ~8-10% annually.
- INVO is commercializing the world’s only in vivo Intravaginal Culture System (IVC), INVOcell®, an accessible, inclusive, and affordable treatment for patients diagnosed with infertility.
- INVO operates within the ~$15-$18 Billion global infertility industry growing ~8-10% annually.
- INVOcell is an FDA cleared patented medical device that is one of only 3 ways today that a couple that is struggling with infertility may choose to use to try to get pregnant and that offers a more economical and natural way to proceed.
- INVOcell addresses key industry challenges regarding cost & capacity constraints of in vitro- fertilization (IVF).
- INVOcell is positioned to serve a vastly underserved global market as ~+90% of infertile individuals go untreated exposing a significant unmet market opportunity.
- INVO is pushing forward with a combined distribution, joint venture/partner model to establish INVO-only clinics to accelerate adoption of INVOcell and their business worldwide.
- INVO established a U.S. commercialization agreement in January 2019 with Ferring Pharmaceuticals, a multi-national firm that controls ~80% of the world’s fertility drug market.
- INVO now has distribution agreements in place in 8 countries located within Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East & continues to seek further relationships worldwide.
- INVO is seeking to establish initial 3-5 JV/Partnership agreements to establish INVO-only clinics within the U.S. market in 2021 to accelerate growth. – INVO has already signed 2 Agreements in 2021 (1 in Birmingham & 1 in San Francisco)
- INVO is seeking to open first INVO-only clinic in Mexico 2H 2021 after receiving approval on March 1 by COFEPRIS to import INVOcell into Mexico
- INVO successfully conducted a public offering in November 2020, raising net proceeds of approximately $11.6 million at $3.20/share, while uplisting the company onto the NASDAQ market.
- INVO a “low” or “tight float” with only 10,424,229 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2021.
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INVO CONTINUES TO TRANSFORM
INVO Bioscience, the company, has been transforming over the last couple of years & relatively recently, under the relatively new leadership of CEO Steve Shum (joined as CEO Q4 2019), successfully conducted a public offering in November 2020, raising gross proceeds of $13 million at $3.20/share, while uplisting the company onto the NASDAQ market. These moves strengthened their balance sheet & their position to execute on their commercialization efforts in the US and around the world and helped improve the adoptability of investors and Wall Street alike.
Barbara Ryan Director of INVO Bioscience (INVO)
INVO has also transformed their board of directors adding a couple of powerful global thought leaders including Barbara Ryan, a Corporate (Public) Board Member with expertise in Healthcare and Life Science Capital Markets – Audit -Strategic Counselor to CEO/C-Suite within Biopharma & Med-Tech with 31 Years of experience working on Wall Street as Pharmaceutical Analyst and Managing Director and a frequent guest expert on CNBC.
Rebecca Messina Director of INVO Bioscience (INVO)
INVO also recently added Rebecca Messina. Messina has broad international experience in leading marketing for elite brands and businesses including Uber Technologies (UBER), Beam Suntory and The Coca-Cola Company (KO). She is currently a Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company focused on advising internal teams and firm clients in the areas of marketing as a growth lever, including data driven marketing, brand building, and strategically shaping and transforming marketing agendas.
INVO has also recently developed a Scientific Advisory Board of four members with deep industry knowledge, where 2 of of them have become joint venture partners seeking to open INVOcell-only clinics in the US and Mexico in the early part of the second half of 2021.
INVO IS PUSHING FORWARD & HITTING MILESTONES
INVO’s upcoming milestones include establishing more distributor & joint venture agreements and opening INVOcell only clinics in US (Birmingham & San Francisco Bay Area) and Mexico in 2021. INVO’s stated goal is to open of 3-5 INVO-only clinics in 2021 with existing partners in the U.S. and abroad, making progress with existing relationships the various countries.
INVO is also seeking to successfully receive the nod from the FDA for 5-day labelling, which alone would allow INVO to achieve a milestone payment of $3 Million from their U.S. partner Ferring Pharmaceuticals and is believe to further cement their place at the table when physicians are presented with infertility patients. This FDA nod may lead to a further expansion of the devices availability in the US. Indeed, it is believed that the OBGYN community (~20,000 in US) would begin to consider adopting the procedure within their own offices. Many believe that OBGYN’s are the ideal implementers of the INVOcell solution as they are in the first line in treating women and they could implement within the same office footprint that they already use on a daily basis thus increasing the access to affordable care not only in the major metropolitan ares but rural alike.
