Interesting from HC
Benitec is a gene therapy/RNAi company. There is not one gene therapy or RNAi drug in commercialisation in the USA. The protocol set by the FDA are extremely stringent. We just have to face facts that it takes a very long time to recruit patients. This is not exclusive to Benitec and difficulties recruiting patients is the norm for gene theapy drugs entering into clinical trials. Take for example, Calimmune. It took over 1 year to recruit their first cohort of 4 patients. They had very similar criteria put upon them which were almost impossible to change. However, they pleaded their case with the FDA and were lucky enough to be granted the permission to screen more than 1 patient at a time, which fortunately Benitec are also now able to do. Anyone thinking that a Company would want these limitation enforced upon themselves, is mistaken. These terms were not set by Calimmune, just as they are not set by Benitec. . If Calimmune were a public company, would shareholders also be calling for the Nobel Laureate’s head? Bluebird Bio, which is 15 times the market cap of Benitec, have two drugs in the clinic and have transfused a handful of patients into both. The Childhood Cerebral Adrenoleukodystrophy study has been in the clinic since 2009 and the Beta-Thalessemia one has been in the clinic since 2010 and neither one has yet moved into PIII and they have orphan designation to help speed things along. Bluebird shareholders have not had to sit through these years being constantly disappointed by patient rejection because they only listed in 2013. Bluebird Bio have the advantage of a charismatic leader who brings his audiences to tears with his images of little boys who are dying in a very good example of how to open the wallets of the audience. I’m not dissing Bluebird, I think they too are a fantastic company, but they are valued at over $1.2 billion dollars and they have but a fraction of Bentitec’s potential. Am I frustrated that the trials are taking so long? You bet I am, but the constant barrage directed towards management (especially over at Stock Gumshoe) over things they simply cannot change is not doing the company, or shareholders, any favours. This is groundbreaking technology the likes of which the world is yet to experience. Other company are doing similar work, but Benitec are the only ones who may be about to cure a disease with one shot. No other company has managed to achieve this. All the others require personalised medicine or frequent dosing. If ddRNAi works with one shot, it then has the potential to treat any disease with one shot and this stock will become the hottest stock on the planet. Yes, I have been saying this for years, but we ARE in the clinic, and as such, we will know one way or another whether it works next year. Things have changed a lot in a couple of years. Two years ago, their market cap was around $10 million, they had 4 employees and less than a million in cash. Since then, they have gotten TT-034 back by acquiring Tacere, passed the RAC and the FDA with flying colours, increased their workforce to 13, set up a lab, acquired another very promising AMD program, have over $30 million in cash and increased their market cap has increased 1000%, they have international exposure and gene therapy is back in vogue. All in all, a pretty impressive achievement IMO.
