Dennis Purcell’s Aisling Capital trimmed its position in Roka Bioscience Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKA) by 246,049 shares in July. The hedge fund disclosed holding 876,368 shares, which represent 4.9% of the company’s outstanding common stock, through a recently-amended 13G filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Aisling Capital held 1.12 million shares as of March 31 according to its most recent 13F filing.
Aisling Capital is a New York-based healthcare-focused hedge fund founded by Dennis Purcell. Aisling Capital, one of the top venture capital firms in the life sciences industry, has roughly $1.7 billion of assets under management and has invested in more than 75 companies since its inception in 2000. Dennis Purcell acted as the Senior Managing Director of the firm from February 2000 to December 2014, and currently serves as the Senior Advisor to Aisling Capital. Purcell is seen as a leader in the healthcare and life sciences field, being listed on Forbes’ all-stars in the biotechnology industry. Throughout his career, Purcell has served on the Board of Directors of multiple public and private companies that operate in the healthcare industry, so he has a notable career in healthcare finance and investing. According to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC, Purcell’s Aisling Capital manages a public equity portfolio worth $764.16 million, with 93% of its entire portfolio invested in the healthcare sector.
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Roka Bioscience Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKA) is a molecular diagnostics company focused on providing advanced testing solutions for the food safety testing market. The shares of Roka Bioscience have dropped by nearly 22% since the beginning of the current year and by over 71% since the company had its initial public offering in July of 2014. Roka Bioscience has been among the worst IPO performers of 2014 and we’ll attempt to tell you why the stock plummeted so as to get a clear picture of the company’s future outlook.