Stock Alert: Evofem Biosciences Gains After Phexxi Approval

(RTTNews) - Friday after hours, shares Evofem Biosciences, Inc. (EVFM), zoomed following the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the company's birth control gel Phexxi.

The contraceptive gel, Phexxi is the first non-hormonal contraceptive for women to be approved by the FDA in more than three decades.

The birth control gel that contains lactic acid, citric acid and potassium bitartrate, maintains the pH in the normal acidic range of 3.5 to 4.5, making it inhospitable to sperm.

According to HC Wainwright analyst Raghuram Selvaju, the gel could bring in peak sales of $500 million by 2030.

The company has priced Phexxi between $250 and $275 for a box of 12 packs, and plans to launch the gel in the first week of September, 2020.

"Our market research tells us that there are 17 million women out there waiting for a new, hormone-free option and if we were to reach just 885,000 of those 17 million women, and they fill their prescriptions seven times in a year, that's $1 billion market opportunity," commented Saundra Pelletier, Chief Executive Officer of the company while talking to analysts during fourth-quarter earnings call early this month.

Friday, the stock was up $0.16 or 3.31% before closing at $4.99. The stock jumped 61.32% in the extended trading at $8.05, crossed its 52-week high of $7.50. The market remained closed on Monday in observance of the Memorial Day.