Awesome!!!! The cat will come around. :) My desk is getting a good workout today.

I'm so glad you did that. I heard his true excitement today. Really a pleasure.

Zoriden: Are dry humping your desk like you said you would?

Gees. Corporate overview my butt!!! This was awesome. Everything we were hoping for was presented. I've got to find some more money.

Hell ya he did!!!!

Holy cow Sal, how can you get any closer than explicitly announcing a partnership with Merck? Gees. Get a room and get it done already!!!!

He also tweeted Merck's clinical results today. It's like watching a romantic comedy with your wife. At least 2-3 times during the movie I'm always thinking/saying, "get on with it already. Gees."

My wife was the same way. Now she is super excited. She is a scientist so naturally she was skeptical at first but after she looked at the data, she said that she was all in. We are both 36 years old with a couple of young kids. Got 332,000 shares at .26 riding on this little company (little engine that could).

On a personal side, my entire family has mostly been devastated by cancer. Two of my grandparents died from it, my mom is a cancer survivor, her sister died of breast cancer at 52, etc. etc. etc. I'm sure many people on this board have similar stories.

So, from a financial perspective, I hope ONCS hits a grand slam because I'd like to be able to do whatever I want. But, from a personal perspective, I hope they hit a grand slam because it will mean everything to these patients. Further, when I'm between 50-75 years old it would be sure nice to have a cure. Wouldn't that be great.

They are I are wanting the same thing: Not just a solid ground-rule double but a walk-off grand slam. I honestly think they have a good shot at it. Can't wait.

Fantastic post. It seems that they are following a similar course to the melanoma trial in the sense that they have great data already but are trying to make the data even better with an expanded population. Remember, as Zoriden pointed out earlier, Cutaneous T-Cell is an ORPHAN designation as well that has no cure and if they are able to put together data that is off the charts, fast-track approval would be next just like Merkel Cell. It seems that ONCS is making a concerted effort to skip Phase 3 in all three trials. Wouldn't that be awesome!!!!

Well, it looks like I was wrong about the Daud presentation today. Loved the article about Merck's anti- pd-1. Best part for me was the effectiveness and the zero safety record. Matches ONCS 's record perfectly. I hope this deal happens soon. This is a match made in heaven. GLTA. Have a great trading Monday.

I appreciate all the thoughts you guys. We have definitely circled the issue. I think the one thing that I would add is that there is an assumption that because because Daud also does work for Merck, that tomorrow's presentation will not involve ONCS. However, it is equally possible that this is a presentation from Mercks perspective and that perspective is that they feel that the most novel, scientific and promising combination therapy is to join forces with immupulse because it has the best in class data of anyone. Thus, the presentation would be a Merck presentation from a renowned oncologist that happens to also be an authority on immupulse. Food for thought on a Saturday.

By the way, this board is great. I'm about to stop going to yahoo because that board is just deteriorating.

I'm also noticing a pattern in how ONCS delivers news. They never put out a press release pointing investors to a conference where data might be presented. They always issue a press release after the conference where either Heller or Daud presents data. See the following:

Heller--10/8/2013--presented data for the combination trial involving anti-PD1 at Old Dominiun University. Data was presented at the Cancer Vaccines & Gene Therapy Conference. No press release before, press release day after.

Daud--12/16/2013--presented interim melanoma data at the Advanced Cancer Immunotherapy Conference. No press release before, press release day after.

Heller--5/22/2014--will present data for both phase 1 & 2 at ASGOT--we have harped on IR to release a press release--they have refused--I bet they won't do one. We will have a press release the next day for the phase 1 and 2 final data.

Daud--4/6/2014--will present at AACR--no press release before event--we will get a press release the next day. Title is "Novel Immune and Targeted Therapies for Hematologic Malignancies and Solid Tumors"--ONCS does this, its Merck, etc.

Basically, if ONCS issues a press release about an upcoming conference, there will be nothing substantive. However, if one of these guys is presenting, expect good things. I Might be totally wrong and, if I am, so be it. However, that is why I'm excited.

Glad to see you are not dead or worse, without an internet connection. I look forward to your thoughts later.

I bet. That's what I'm working on here. :)

Speaking of trebor4/brotherbear44, where are you? Are you "hibernating"? :) You are one of the most reliable posters so I'd love your thoughts on this daylong discussion.

I know, I know!!!! Me too. I love the following line:

"The American Association for Cancer Research is the authoritative voice and resource for cancer research. The AACR Annual Meeting garners the best in national and international news coverage."

That would certainly be a "big splash" that Amy (former investor relations gal) talked about.

I just got off the phone with Jeff Molter from AACR who said that the the AACR Annual Official Press Program organizes when information is supposed to be released to the media. He said that for a Sunday presentation, the information will be released to the press the following morning. That would be Monday.

Also, if you look in the middle of the section for media relations it says the following:

"If you are presenting data at the meeting, the AACR can consider your research for the official press program or allow you to place your news release in the press room. We invite you to coordinate your media efforts with our Communications and Public Relations Department."

Data? Partnership? Both? Thoughts?

This is exciting stuff!!!!!!

AACR Media Relations:

"PRESS RELATIONS
The AACR Press Office will be located in Room 15A of the San Diego Convention Center and will be open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day beginning on Saturday, April 5, and from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9. The AACR’s press contacts are Jeff Molter, director of media and public relations, 267-210-3965 or jeff.molter@aacr.org, and Jeremy Moore, associate director of media relations, 267-250-5441 or jeremy.moore@aacr.org.
The American Association for Cancer Research is the authoritative voice and resource for cancer research. The AACR Annual Meeting garners the best in national and international news coverage. The Annual Meeting 2013 generated news stories from top-tier media outlets, including Time, CBS News, CNN, NBC, FoxNews.com, Reuters, USA Today, Bloomberg, Huffington Post, Washington Post, and many others. Meeting coverage also appeared in news outlets in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
AACR Annual Meeting 2013 media coverage
AACR Annual Meeting 2014 press registration form*
If you are presenting data at the meeting, the AACR can consider your research for the official press program or allow you to place your news release in the press room. We invite you to coordinate your media efforts with our Communications and Public Relations Department. For more information about media opportunities, please contact communications@aacr.org or call 215-446-7155."

Ok. Now I am officially obsessed with this conference. I think the reason I am is because it is the first time I've actually seen ONCS associated with Merck other than a tenuous link with Dr. Pierce. With that in mind, I found the following for abstracts:

"ABSTRACT SUBMISSION AND NOTIFICATION
The regular abstract submission deadline was Wednesday, December 4. The deadline for submission of late-breaking abstracts was Monday, January 27. Authors who submitted abstracts confirmed that they have not previously published these data, that they have not previously presented them at a large national annual scientific meeting, and that they were not planning to present or publish them prior to the dates of the AACR Annual Meeting 2014. Each abstract should have contained: (a) an introductory sentence indicating the purposes of the study; (b) a brief description of pertinent experimental procedures; (c) a summary of the new, unpublished data; and (d) a statement of the conclusions. Authors must accept sole responsibility for the statements in their abstracts. Abstract submitters were asked to carefully proofread to avoid errors in the published literature and to use American English spelling throughout. For more information regarding American English spelling, please refer to Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, Seventh Edition (Council of Science Editors, 2006). Notifications of abstract status were sent in early February (regular deadline) and early March (late-breaking deadline). If you submitted an abstract and did not receive notification, please email support@abstractsonline.com."

This is exciting stuff.

Further, did you notice that on the bottom of the actually listing it says the following:

"This abstract has been withheld from posting due to its inclusion in the AACR Annual Meeting 2014 Official Press Program. It will be posted online following its presentation."

I have no idea what that means but I'm going to inquire right now.

BTW, its a good thing I'm self-employed because I'm getting nothing done at work today. :)

Actually, a guy you likes bond girls. :)

You said it Sal. Exciting times. Have a good weekend.

Actually, Sal. Punit bought on 3/19, the day of the conference. I know a lot of people have said that they couldn't get this done this fast but I am a lawyer and if there had been tenative discussions with Merck in the past then only specific terms would need to be worked out making it is possible for a deal to be reviewed and get done in a short amount of time.

Another possibility is that Merck already made an offer that was too low and ONCS rejected it. After the Sachs conference, they might have received better deals and then Merck has upped the anti.

Of course this is all speculation but its sooooo fun. Can't wait.

I did some research on this because your question was a really good one. I didn't find any particular rule of 30 days but I did learn the following:

"SEC Rule 10b5-1 clarified that the prohibition against insider trading does not require proof that an insider actually used material nonpublic information when conducting a trade; possession of such information alone is sufficient to violate the provision, and the SEC would infer that an insider in possession of material nonpublic information used this information when conducting a trade. However, SEC Rule 10b5-1 also created for insiders an affirmative defense if the insider can demonstrate that the trades conducted on behalf of the insider were conducted as part of a pre-existing contract or written binding plan for trading in the future." (quote From Wikipedia--verified by going to the SEC website.).

In summary, the key question in this analysis is the knowledge an insider possesses and when they possess it.

Going back to the timeline, the Sacks conference was 3/19 and the purchases by insiders were 3/20. Since they went to a partnership conference, a reasonable inference would be that a partnership was not already in place. Further, Punit went to Boston for face to face meetings the following week. If those meetings stemmed from partnership interest after the conference any information gathered there or any tenative agreements make were made after the insider purchases. Maybe Punit and co had a good feeling that the Sachs conference would lead to partnership interest so he and co wanted to buy those shares well before any insider knowledge was gained as result.

Seems like something he would do especially since his amount of money invested is exactly the same as his bonus he got from ONCS. Further, the other purchases were quite small. Further,this would also point to the fact that Punit invested when he had extra money as apposed to insider knowledge. Finally, it was smart to say many many times to investors that they are going to do combination trial with anti-PD1. Also shows an intent to communicate their plans to the investor.

Can't wait to find out. Thoughts?

A lot!!!

I really think we are going to get a partnership announcement with Merck this Sunday at AACR. A couple of reasons:

1. This conference is sponsored by Merck.
2. It is in ONCS' backyard (San Diego).
3. The title is "Antitumor activity of the anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody MK-3475 in melanoma(MEL): Correlation of tumor PD-L1 expression with outcome" where Daud is the lead presenter but it also is co-sponsored UCSF and UCLA, both the research hospitals that ONCS has worked with. Further, the drug is a Merck drug. Why would Daud be the lead presenter for a Merck drug unless it is tied with ONCS somehow?
4. The title of the session is "Novel Immune and Targeted Therapies for Hematologic Malignancies and Solid Tumors." This would definitely be "novel" and an awesome presentation.
5. Punit went to Boston for "face-to-face" meetings recently right after a partnership conference (Sachs).
6. This follows the same pattern of major news that ONCS has done before. The intern data for melanoma was presented at a scientific conference that was given on Sunday (by Daud) in which there was no press release before the conference. A press release with the data was released by ONCS the following day (Monday).

Of course, I might be wrong, but anybody that sells shares today is an idiot. GLTA.

Wait, here it is:

"It is not our policy to comment on the timing and content of press releases. As always, we appreciate you reaching out and value your continued interest and support. Have a great rest of the week!"

I haven't gotten my reply yet. Perhaps he is spending extra time with mine. LOL

I just sent them one too. Ironically, instead of answering us all, it might be easier to ISSUE A PRESS RELEASE!!! :)

I think it is just the way they deliver news. Even if they have really good things to say, they deliver the news in a systematical way--roughly 2 weeks before the event. Very frustrating though. However, we will know on April 21 either way.

You can't read too much into this right now. They haven't issued a press release for the ASGOT where they should be presented final melanoma data and that IS public knowledge. I guess we will find out.

The titles of the abstracts are posted by the ASCO on April 21 in the "Annual Meeting iPlanner launch." The full abstract is available May 14. I believe we will be able to see the Annual Meeting iPlanner online because you can already see the general itinerary online already. As least I hope that will be the case.

Ya, I think with the privacy concerns with ASCO we can't read into the lack of a press release or not. I think what they will probably do is ask ASCO whether or not they can announce acceptance or not. If ASCO allows it, I think we will have a press release. Just my two cents.

It will come. As a Seahawks fan, the most important quote of the year for us was: "Why not us?" I think that statement applies to ONCS as well. GLTA

I'll tell you one thing: If you are an investor, never go into the weekend without all your shares of ONCS. Monday's and Tuesday's are when they usually release news. GLTA

Totally. I believe that there will be several days this year where we are going to wake up to amazing news from many fronts.

I already have an insane amount of shares. All bought at .27. This pressure cooker is getting more intense by the day. Can't wait for May/June. GLTA.

No. But I didn't ask him because I knew he couldn't answer anyway. I'm glad I called though because ONCS, to give them credit, DOES respond to investor concerns. One of their best qualities among many. :)

So . . . I just talked with Patrick at Investor Relations. He really is a nice guy. I expressed our concerns on why ONCS has not issued a PR regarding ASGCT. He agreed that ASGCT is fundamentally different than ASCO and that the privacy concerns are not the same. He also said that several people have inquired with the same question. I explained that from my perspective getting the word out about a scientific conference is fundamentally different than information that ONCS is presenting at an investor conference. He agreed. He said he would take my concerns and the concerns of other fellow board members and pass it along to management. We'll see.

Zoriden, I understand the "no comment" attitude about ASCO because of the requirements for privacy from ASCO itself. However, this conference does not not have the privacy rules that ASCO has. In fact, they confirmed that they invited ONCS to present. That's why I don't get it.