Organovo Holdings Inc. CEO Won't Rule Out Sale

Organovo Holdings Inc.

got a big bounce Friday after Chief Executive Officer Keith Murphy said he won't rule out selling the development-stage medical device company. Shares of San Diego-based Organovo, which aims to develop tissue for human transplants via three-dimensional printing, are down more than 42 percent in the year to date, but closed Friday at $6.35 a share, up $0.85 cents. Murphy spoke at an Oppenheimer investment conference Thursday and later appeared on a CNBC TV show and said he'd be open to selling the company. Murphy holds an 8 percent stake in Organovo as of its July proxy statement, which showed officers and directors as a group holding about 12 percent of company shares. Organovo became publicly traded through a shell company merger in 2012 and hasn't produced revenue since its launch in 2007. As of recently it counted 48 full-time employees. Earlier this month, Organovo announced a collaboration with Yale School of Medicine to develop tissue for surgical research. The project was financed by a charity called Methuselah Foundation. Short interest in Organovo as of Nov. 28 totaled 1.06 million of its 80.4 million shares outstanding, up from 752,000 shares about two weeks earlier. Organovo launched in 2007 and aims to develop human tissue using three-dimensional printing technology. Oranovo became publicly traded through a shell company merger in 2012 and hasn't produced revenue.