CVRsHi folks and thanks for the posts imtesty and Jkj. I thought there were still positive findings in favour of rvx-208 in each of the papers and particularly the impact of raising HDL in treating diabetes. It seems that the theory of the positive benefits of raising HDL as an approach to treating CVD and reducing MACE at least in certain patients, is still supported and diabetes, Alzhemiers patients, etc. may all benefit. rvx-208 did not cause any significant, sustained problems in the recent trials and it resulted in significant plaque regression in patients on Crestor and reduced MACE both at highly statistically significant levels.
Regarding CVRs
I'm slow to figure things out. For some reason I had it in my mind that the suitors of a CVR on RVX would be BP only. After all AZ, Pfizer and others need it. An yet a previous poster said BP will not be interested in RVX until phase 3. The CVR lets them in at reduced risk.
Then it occured to me that the market for the CVR could be very large indeed. It could include any venture capital company that has a focus on drug development that has achieved a risk profile consistent with the suitors risk profile. It could include Eastern, NGN, Blackstone and I'm sure many more. It might even include the likes of Bain Capital and perhaps leveraged byout companies with a focus on pharma.
The CVR could be structured as low risk upfront (but I sure as hell don't want to be sold out short on the upfront payment - that payment should be structured based on the probability of success given the performance of rvx-208 to date, the underlying HDL science overall, the value of the patents and other intellectual property, etc) thus allowing the buyer to own and control RVX and bring their own resources to get things moving. There is not point in selling out cheap because BP is huge, highly profitable and in need to fill their portfolios.
Eastern and NGN have insider knowledge and seem to support rvx-208 so would they not be a natural fit? Yes, they need to invest millions but the potential payback is billions each year.
The CVR buyer (new owner of RVX) would complete phase 2 and if successful phase 3. Then they have something of extremely high value to BP and they have complete control. Hopefully some royalties would flow to us.
Please correct me if I'm off base. What I'm trying to say is that I think the CVR market is much bigger than I thought and that is good for Don. Hope he is playing hardball.
Just thinking out loud again.
Cheers
Toinv