Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA), a biopharmaceutical company, announced the appointment of Eric Hyllengren as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) on Monday. Hyllengren will retain his current role as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), a position he has held since April 2023.
Hyllengren, 49, has been with Atara since August 2018, initially serving as Vice President of Finance before taking on the role of Head of Investor Relations in April 2020. His promotion to COO comes with an increase in his annual base salary to $520,000. Prior to joining Atara, Hyllengren spent 15 years at Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN)., undertaking various finance roles, including corporate finance and investor relations.
Educationally, Hyllengren holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and Russian from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in finance from the Kellogg (NYSE:K) School of Management at Northwestern (NASDAQ:NWE) University.
The company's board of directors confirmed that there are no familial ties between Hyllengren and any directors or executive officers at Atara. Additionally, there are no reported related person transactions or arrangements between Hyllengren and the company that influenced his promotion.
In other recent news, Atara Biotherapeutics secured $36 million in a stock sale, issuing common stock and pre-funded warrants to extend its cash runway into 2027. This move supports the anticipated U.S. approval of its T-cell therapy product, tab-cel®, and the progress of ATA3219. Atara also announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted its Biologics License Application for tab-cel®, potentially leading to a $20 million milestone payment from Pierre Fabre Laboratories, with an additional $60 million contingent upon FDA approval.
In a strategic move, Atara executed a 1-for-25 reverse stock split, reducing its common shares from approximately 122.6 million to around 4.9 million. Mizuho Securities upgraded Atara Biotherapeutics from a Neutral to an Outperform rating, despite reducing the price target to $18 from $25, maintaining a positive outlook on the company's core T-cell technology.
Finally, Atara reported promising preclinical data on its allogeneic anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy candidate, ATA3219, which is currently under investigation in a Phase 1 trial for relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
InvestingPro Insights
As Atara Biotherapeutics appoints Eric Hyllengren as its new COO, investors should be aware of the company's current financial situation. According to InvestingPro data, Atara's market capitalization stands at $47.04 million, reflecting its small-cap status. The company has shown impressive revenue growth, with a 809.03% increase in the last twelve months as of Q2 2024, and a staggering 2892.69% quarterly growth in Q2 2024.
However, these growth figures come with significant challenges. InvestingPro Tips highlight that Atara is quickly burning through cash and suffers from weak gross profit margins. The company's gross profit margin for the last twelve months as of Q2 2024 stands at -201.9%, indicating substantial operational hurdles.
Hyllengren's expanded role as both COO and CFO will be crucial in addressing these financial challenges. Two key InvestingPro Tips are particularly relevant: analysts do not anticipate the company will be profitable this year, and the stock has fared poorly over the last month, with a -16.15% return in the past 30 days.
For investors seeking a more comprehensive analysis, InvestingPro offers 9 additional tips that could provide valuable insights into Atara's financial health and market position.
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