Dare Bioscience Soars After News of $49M Grant From the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Dare Bioscience (NASDAQ: DARE) is a California based healthcare company focusing on the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products in women's reproductive health. Shares of the company are up 23.68% as of market close on Wednesday after revealing a near $48.95 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The near $49 million grant will occur over several stages. Dare Bioscience will first receive an initial payment of $11.45 million from the foundation this month and as the development of the DARE-LARC1 contraceptive continues, further payments will be made. The grant also involves certain terms and specific conditions that the company must abide to. Firstly, any funds firm the grant that are not used must be returned back to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation also enforces a condition that the product be affordable and available in developing countries. They must also provide them to the U.S educational system as well as public libraries. Any information gained from the development of the product must also be shared according to the Global Access Commitment. It’s also important to note that the grant has a timestamp on it. The funds will only be available in human tests from June 30, 2021 until November 1, 2026.
The funds from the grant will be used for the DARE-LARC1 product, which is reportedly an “investigational user-controlled, long acting reversible contraceptive.” The money from the grant will allow Dare Bioscience to advance the DARE-LARC1 from pre-clinical studies to clinical studies. Other projects include the DARE-HRT1 which the company recently reported had stellar results in its early stage trial.
Upon the news of the grant., shares skyrocketed during the premarket, rising over 63%. Trading volume reached 18.1 million shares, a massive spike contrasted to the full day average of 3.7 million shares. Share prices continued to rise 23.68% throughout the trading day, closing at $1.88 Wednesday. This upwards gain carried forward to Thursday’s trading, where shares rose another 6.38%, closing at $2.00.
Dare Bioscience is an incredibly risky stock, which isn’t unexpected given the fact that they are a clinical stage healthcare company with negative net income. However, this new grant allows the company to avoid the problem of bankruptcy for the near future. Many clinical stage companies burn through their cash before they can finish and commercialize their products, but Dare Bioscience has a large sum of funds for the next 5 years as they continue the development of their product. As the DARE-LARC1 progresses and becomes ready to be commercialized, the terms of the grant also involves distributing the product throughout various countries, both international and domestic.
The next 5 years for Dare Biosciences looks to be quite exciting. Optimistic investors expect positive progression of the development of the company’s products and the commercialization of the contraceptive as its approved and ready seems to have a detailed plan already. Although historically, the stock has been extremely volatile, and current revenue is negative, the company does seem to have a bright future ahead. So what are your thoughts? Leave them down below!
Written by: Jessica Fang
