(Disclaimer: These articles are merely informational in nature, and in no way should be considered expert financial advice. As with any investment, psilocybin stocks, especially those owned by newer companies, are subject to significant fluctuations in value. Therefore, caution should always be observed when investing.)
Company: Ocugen, Inc
Stock: OCGN
Investment Risks: Moderate/High
Investment Rewards: Moderate/High
Current Price: $7.52/share
Company Background: Based in Malvern, PA, Ocugen, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focusing on developing gene therapies to cure blindness diseases, including retinal degeneration, macular degeneration, and diabetic macular edema and retinopathy, as well as a stage-3 inactivated vaccine for COVID-19 known as COVAXIN™. On July 15, Ocugen “announced that it had initiated a rolling submission to Health Canada for COVAXIN™, the company’s candidate vaccine against COVID-19, which it is co-developing with Bharat Biotech International Ltd. for the U.S. and Canadian markets.”
Leadership: Shankar Musunuri, PhD, MBA is the Chairman of the Board, CEO and Co-founder Of Ocugen. According to Oucgen’s website, “Dr. Musunuri held leadership roles at numerous companies ranging from “Big Pharma” to novel start-up biotechs. Most recently, he founded Nuron Biotech, Inc., which he grew to a commercial company in less than three years, serving as President and CEO. Dr. Musunuri spent nearly fifteen years at Pfizer, where he gained extensive product launch and life-cycle management experience, playing a key role as Global Operations Team Leader for the most successful launch in vaccine history, Prevnar 13®.”
Mission and Philosophy of the Company: Ocugen’s stated mission is “to develop gene therapies to cure blindness diseases and develop a vaccine to save lives from COVID-19.”
Performance: OCGN is down drastically from its late 2017 peak of 217.20, but has doubled it’s value since 2021. though over the past year has been relatively flat. On the positive side, The Motley Fool states “Ocugen will pocket 45% of any profits that Covaxin generates in the U.S. It’s not unrealistic to envision that the company could make over $1 billion (and perhaps significantly more than that) annually if Covaxin wins U.S. EUA or approval.”
On the negative side, stocknews.com reports, “Several law firms have filed a case against OCGN accusing it of issuing false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose information pertinent to investors.”
Moreover, stocknews.com reports that “OCGN’s loss from operations increased 79.6% year-over-year to $7.06 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. The company’s net loss for the quarter came in at $7.08 million, which represents a 79.4% year-over-year decline. Its loss per was $0.04 compared to $0.07 in the prior-year period. Also, OCGN missed the Street’s EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters.” And stockinvest.us states,” Given the current short-term trend, the stock is expected to fall -21.51% during the next 3 months.” All of the short-term indications are in the negative zone, arguing for a sell position for current investors, and a cautious position for would-be investors.
Final Thoughts: The question is: Does the promise of Ocugen’s COVAXIN™ vaccine have enough strength and market share to buoy the company for future developments of the other pipeline products that address blindness in a sustainable fashion? At nearly $8.00 a share, Ocugen’s appeal is waning.
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