A woman with a cause and a company— and zero sales— is on a quest for a cure.

When Clarissa Desjardins first learned of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva—a rare disease that causes children’s muscles to turn to bone—she had to act. A serial biotechnology entrepreneur in Montreal, Desjardins began experimenting with a new drug. Between 2011 and 2015, she hired a team of cutting-edge researchers to perform tests, and tapped the local investment community to raise $83.5 million. “I couldn’t believe such a disease existed. It caused me to quit my job and change my life,” she says, referring to what would be her third biotech firm, Clementia.

When it became clear that the drug had enough potential for a Phase 3 clinical trial—the last step before approval from regulators like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—Desjardins looked to an IPO for financing. “We had to access the public markets to enable us to fulfill our mission,” she says. So, in August 2017, the company—which counts 35 employees and, yes, zero revenue—went public, raising $138 million.

There’s no guarantee that her drug will be approved—and the clinical trial results won’t be available for another two years, an eternity for investors. “I can understand how, as compared with other industries, this feels a bit unreal,” she says of the uncertainty that shrouds her firm. “But we have patents, people, and trade secrets, all of which are transferable in situations of distress.”