On the back of Ozempic and adjacent script sales, longstanding staff are reaping the benefits.
Online prescription mill Eucalyptus is on the brink of selling $8 million of employees’ stock, benefiting 20 to 30 longstanding staff.
Eucalyptus operates online brands Juniper, Pilot, Software and Kin, but is best known for offering up prescriptions for weight-loss drugs including a locally compounded version of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic.
According to the Australian Financial Review, Eucalyptus CEO Tim Doyle has said an unnamed foreign investor will scoop up most of the shares, some of which will come from his personal share-holding, co-founders and veteran employees.
“It’s 1% of my total holding,” Mr Doyle told the AFR, saying he hoped to use the money to purchase Sydney property. “It’s actually a moment of enormous pride to be able to return some value to your initial early staff.”
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Eucalyptus has been the target of criticism since reacting to the worldwide shortage of Ozempic by selling a chemist-made version of the active ingredient, raising the ire of both Novo Nordisk and the RACGP.
Mr Doyle told the AFR that more Ozempic was becoming available overseas, especially in the UK.
“I think we’re on the verge of supply improving quite a lot,” he said.
He attributed the timing of the deal, which is less than six months after Eucalyptus’s last raising, to seeking the right terms and partner. The small number of staff involved, he said, was due to the logistics of organising the transaction and legal rules around share options.
At last valuation Eucalyptus was estimated to be worth $560 million.
