Sarasota fertility company completes merger with bioscience firm

A Sarasota-based fertility company has merged with a bioscience business to form a publicly traded company. 

INVO Bioscience, which focuses on fertility treatments and clinics and is traded under the name INVO, completed its merger with Aventura-headquartered NAYA Biosciences, a company dedicated to oncology treatment and regenerative medicine, according to an Oct. 14 statement.

The combined company will be called NAYA Biosciences, trading under the NAYA ticker on the Nasdaq, and it will engage in the fertility business as well as clinical-stage treatments for oncology and autoimmune diseases.

INVO CEO Steve Shum will lead the company, with INVO CFO Andrea Goren handling the finances. The founder and former CEO of NAYA Biosciences, Daniel Teper, will be appointed as president of the combined company and will be named CEO of the NAYA Therapeutics subsidiary. Teper will join NAYA board member Lyn Falconio on the board of the combined company along with INVO’s current board members, according to a statement.

“We are confident that our expanded portfolio business model and combined assets have the potential to create significant value for both legacy and new shareholders,” Shum says in the statement. “Combining scalable, profitable revenues from our fertility business with the upside of innovative therapeutics optimizes risk-return for investors. In addition, the hub-and-spoke model allows for shared resources and talent to accelerate the development of our lean, agile subsidiaries.”

Among its projects, NAYA Biosciences has an antibody entering clinical trials to treat hepatocellular carcinoma patients. It has also developed an antibody for multiple myeloma, according to a statement.

“We are excited about the growth potential of NAYA as a public company with improved access to capital and shared resources to accelerate the development of its pipeline,” Teper says in the statement. 

Under the terms of the merger, INVO acquired 100% of the outstanding equity interests in NAYA by means of a reverse triangular merger of a wholly owned subsidiary of INVO with and into NAYA, with NAYA surviving as a wholly owned subsidiary of INVO, according to the statement.