Contemplating ICO newsSince Wuxi Biologics has teamed up with IMNP and bertilimumab has achieved orphan drug status, I believe it would be advantageous for Wuxi to atttempt a friendly takeover of ICO because if they were to own ICO, then the milestone payments would no longer be applicable. They would not have to make these payments to themselves if they owned ICO outright and would also gain access to the multi-billion dollar market potential of Oral Amphotericin B at the same time for a win win.
Wuxi has a current market capitalization of 98.3 billion HKD or aproximatley 13 billion USD.
So, it would be a natural fit for Wuxi to own the patent rights and fund development right through phase 2 and phase 3 trials prior to approval by the FDA. In my opinion, ICO would probably resist any takeover offers, and prefer to have a partner with deep pockets JV with them to profit share revenues derived from the sale of Bertilimumab and Oral Amphotericin B.
I am not concerned at all about the financials right now because we're talking about drugs in the development pipeline worth potential billions and Wuxi knows it. I suspected that all along they have had their eyes on ICO since partnering up with IMNP.
Is a poison pill provision in order here, or are PPPs toxic or non-toxic to shareholders or the acquiror? If Andrew Rae has been in talks with different suitors, then it is not for me to assume that Wuxi would succeed unless their offer is very strong.
PPPs are to defend against cheap takeover offers which do not fairly value the target company.
https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/2269:HK
Excerpt and transcription from press release which I like about Oral B clinical results:
- Pharmacokinetic data from the Phase 1 study showed that iCo-019 had enhanced plasma area under the concentration time curve, which is a measure of systemic drug exposure, and longer blood circulation time without the associated gastrointestinal effects or liver and kidney toxicity.
- Given positive Phase 1 data, the Company drafted and recently filed a new patent application with attorneys at Cooley. The Company achieved a median Cmax of 28 ng/mL and AUC0-inf of 1030 hr*ng/mL at the lowest dose of Oral Amphotericin B of 100 mg, demonstrating superiority of area under the concentration time curve from time zero to infinity, when compared to published 200 mg, 400 mg and 800 mg oral cochleate formulation data by the closest competitor. The Company expects to report further data at the Company's presentation at the Rodman and Renshaw 20th Annual Global Investment Conference taking place from September 4th through September 6th,2018.
DOC