Does anyone know why two directors of NGNM recently resigned?
Can't say definitively, but can provide some background as I've been invested in NGNM for 5 years and have many conversations with Steve Jones in the past about co. growth.
Since the appointment of Doug Van Oort as CEO (with a buy in of 600K shares along with his position announcement), the co. has been trying to build an activist board, well enough connected to move the co. into the retail genetics testing space. They hired and then summarily fired a VP of sales when he underperformed, after just 3 quarters, have managed to get the lab onto most of the provider panels for HMO's (losing some of their margin along the way, but increasing their volume), and recently announced that several insiders bought $3 million worth of shares at $1.50/share when the price was languishing at $1.20 or so. My guess is that Van Oort and Jones are populating the board with individuals who can actually get things done rather than sit around and collect options and attendance compensation.
The last contact I had with Jones was regarding the publication of data on their MelanoSite melanoma test. I emailed him to ask whether or not the data was in review at a peer reviewed journal and when we could expect to see the data published and his reply was that the data was in review and they expected publication soon. In a presentation at OneMed Forum in San Fransisco on 1/11/11, Jones reported that he expected the publication in 3-4 months (suggesting that the manuscript had been accepted and was simply in cue for publication, based on timeline, IMO.) This is important as the validation of the test (with 98% sensitivity for borderline growths) will likely drive the use of the test. Jones also reported that they planned on launching 2 other specific genetics tests based on their ABT partnership in this next year. Today's announcement of $34.4 should be notable because Jones has gone on record at Both San Fransisco and other places that he expects FY 2011 to have revenues of about $45 million.
So much for my annual pump of NGNM; still officially a penny/BB stock, but slowly gaining momentum and legitimacy.
regards,
aj
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