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You are misinformed. I am not committed to this company in a significant way. Further I will be only when it has proven to me that it is more than a "hope and dream" of the founders and investors.
I keep a very close eye on it for selfish reasons. and stand ready to pounce when i see the necessity. As I stated over a year ago, when the stock price "stabilizes" and only then, will i be invested, as if matters one way or the other.
Until then, and I am frankly hopeful that I will be able to invest here, I will monitor this board and say useful things as I see them.
Today, $28K worth of stock in this company traded hands.
GLTA
RU
twenty eight thousand ($28,000) of stock traded today.
RU
From your lips to God's ear....
"I suspect that the timing of the Textile World article was based on KBLB already having adequate samples on hand to send out. So they should already be within one generation of having enough for small production runs."
Hope you are correct in your suspicions. That would certainly be a prudent business model.
I'll be very interested in the lab space and it's physical limitations or lack there of to see a business plan through. In my opinion it will be a very telling indicator of exactly where in its development the company truly sees itself.
GLTA
RU
How much "lab space" need to carry out the companies goals? How many worms can one grow in a cubic foot of space. How much space is devoted to commercialization? what is the price charged for enough to fill one cubic foot of space? How many cubic feet of space is needed to meet demand for the number of worms needed to populate a viable "farm"? Watch the size of the lab.
Here here...and there-in lies the rub. Certainly worth consideration when looking at when to buy into KBLB. AS EVIDENCE BUILDs ....watch and act if appropriate to do so based on your investment strategy. KBLB is a good strong "maybe" as to it panning out. I await the word on the "size" of the new lab. My background, 20+yrs is in industrial real estate. Any company worth its salt can afford to provide "adequate" shelter to see the proper end to facilitate their stated "business goals". I am eager to know if KBLB withstands my test regarding this important "leading indicator". Is the new lab space indicative of and reflect true commitment of a company truly meeting, or even attempting to meet, its stated corporate and operational and commercialization goals?
Publicly available information in the 10Q from 2011/2010
the currently operate business out of 600sf of space... If they are to have a business at all they will certainly need more space than they have currently. hopefully this will be included in the new lab space.
Maybe even better look at "how to get viable cocoons" w/ pic's....
Step 1 is shown here....other steps at the bottom of the link.
http://www.designboom.com/history/silk1.html
RU
Interesting look into the silk industry, thought MU may enjoy it...I'm trying to understand how big of a facility, how many? facilities of what size, KBLB would need to raise $10mil worth of worms.
http://factsanddetails.com/world.php?itemid=1224&catid=54&subcatid=349
RU
about right...you'd need to supply about 504,000 cocoons (weighing about 1.8 grams per cocoon) to average one (raw) US Ton...which, if one US Ton costs 36,000 Chinese Yuan it would bring in approximately $5,557.21 per US Ton, or $0.01103 per cocoon.
$1,000,000US would buy 179.95 US Tons of silk cocoons, or 90,694,800 individual cocoons...roughly.
Meaning, it would take almost 1 billion cocoons sold to average $10mil in gross revenue.
Check my math....
FWIW
RU
Anyone asked Kim what business KBLB is commercializing? From today's PR......
"This larger hybrid transgenic will be the platform for our commercialization ramp up," Thompson continued. "Now that the strength and elasticity qualities have been confirmed, we can move forward with cultivating the hybrids in commercially viable quantities. We are working diligently to increase our stock of the new strain in order to increase our production capacity."
....does the board read this to mean an increase of production capacity to deliver transgenic worms (that's the way I'm leaning) or should i be reading it to mean increase production capacity of recombinant silk? Pretty smart way to phrase it either way I guess, it leaves us all wondering...but he does say they are moving forward with cultivating the hybrids in commercially viable quantities, which could mean quantities of worms for sale, or quantities of worms to produce the silk for sale....
Great PR today. ZincF called it...good job board!
GLTA
RU
"Lots of speculation but we should know soon."
Agreed, lots and lots of speculation. Time to stop speculating, hoping, and thinking wishfully and do more admitting that no one has a clue what those in control (still not sure i know who that is) of this company have in mind. No amount of it will matter on bit when news actually occurs.
I'm looking.
GLTA
RU
"A busy busy 1 man show".....yes it is.
PR needs to announce his help. He must have it. #1 issue IMHO.
RU
Sigma, will sell the fibers or the ability to discover new uses of super fibers to researchers around the world as soon as they are available....or the proteins in the fibers, or the use of new fibers for the delivery of human therapeutic compounds interlaced into those fibers or the sell of silkworm knockouts/knockins for the development of human therapeutics to those researching such uses, or....????? anything else. It will not be involved in the commercial development of anything arising from its agreement with KBLB except to the extent KBLB has agreed to allow them to.?.
They will not be in the silk business as you think of it.
RU
ND being chosen to handle the ZFN side of business going forward is material.
An announcement that they have/are acquiring a lab/factory to supply commercial quantities of product is material.
RU
I do not remember who replied to this question for me before, but, according to what I've been told and have read to date, no clarity exists as it relates to who has been hired by KBLB, and is accountable to us (stockholders).
I realize associations exist. That is well documented. Who, associated with the company, is representative of its management, aside from Kim?
Please lay it on me, I continue to look.
RU
Yes, the value of this company is it's technological ability to deliver what it claims it will deliver. Of all the tech available to it to achieve this goal, Sigma's CompoZr ZFN Tech can. Nothing currently available to researchers is close to CompoZr.
if (this is a small "if", not big) it can be done, ZFN's has the best chance of seeing to it.
GLTA
RU
I have to say, I'm nervous that i don't own enough. The technology works, this i know. It is more than possible to do what they say they are trying to do, this i know. Can Kim make a business out of it?
I defer to longs on this point, as I know very little about him as a quality manager. He will need help. Good CEO's are surrounded by quality advisors/managers. Where are they? How long until he puts them in place? Who will they be?
I'll be buying anyway, if we open without down pressure Monday.
The $0.13's will look great next to my $0.10's....should have bought them when I first learned of the company, right after the SIAL/KBLB deal was announced. Ugh.
Where were you then ZincF? lol
GLTA
RU
Why? By answering this question you will help all here better understand why they are here, or should be here.
RU
OT- ZincF, I love the majority (vast) of your posts...so don't be confused when you read my post(s) that appear contrary to your point(s). More often than not we see the opportunity of investing here the same way.
I just want to make sure that anyone showing up here for the first time has ..... balance, fact, reasonableness....when they lay their bet on KBLB.
Your last piece was at best from your "emotional" side of investing.
....and more closely related with "conjecture" on your part...as you said, "So it may be that the problem is that their website isn't set up to allow modifications from outside computers (which sounds like a reasonable security measure to me). " This is, unless your the website maintenance guy, complete BS.
Stick to what you know....I appreciate your contributions to my knowledge base here.
Sincerely,
RU
Wow...that's all i'll say about that...I think maybe you should stick to the technical side of prospects and events facing the company. Don't mean to discount your value here but that's a pretty ......mediocre bit of pump/advise dude. Really.
Any more of that nonsense and i'll have to put you on my "WTF" list.
Zinc Finger Nuclease Technology is the key to efficient manipulation of gene(s) in any living organism. Sigma Aldrich, the worlds largest supplier of said agents supplies them to KBLB at some price(?). The company stands to benefit from this Technology in the near (hopefully) future...as ZFN use amongst geneticists is becoming (quickly) the "standard" tool used by them, worldwide.
What I'm saying is ..... lay of the kool-aide, this stock has a great chance of delivering a commercial product with/or without this kind of nonsense....stay with the facts. DDD.
GLTA
RU
Agreed, thanks for the clarification of your post for me...I only wanted to make the point that, while we sit in our armchairs, we do not know what the business plan is for commercialization. We cannot know aside from the cryptic notes delivered by management and the the lack of publication of hires necessary for such developments to be carried out. None of which will occur prior to hiring those capable of doing so, unless Kim can "do it all himself". Despite my firm belief that he's capable to "handle it all". . . he is yet but one.
Your clarification goes far in ensuring my continued support on this board (not that you seek it), as your eloquence is second to none in championing KBLB's smartly acquired futuristic genetic manipulation technology, today.
I will point out to you that your exuberance is shared thinly by me until specifics are offered to the facts you are "feeling" right now...and will only be impressed with clear direction from management....., as you say.....
"Note that I most certainly did not say that the company is well established, just the direction that it intends to take. I have a hard time imagining how anyone could have much disagreement with that much."
Clarity, not imaginings or intentions by other well intentioned investors is what i'm looking for....clear "direction" to date is conjecture not fact(s) as presented by the CEO, other than a very broad stroke of the brush and he is the only one to which an investor can turn for those fact(s). Until then we can agree the prospects are potentially hugely rewarding (of which i am in the camp of)....and I look forward to the precise time at which the company's "direction that it intends to take" are announced by the CEO and feel sure they will indeed match its potential.
Until then, I wait, I watch....I'm looking.....DDD
Thank you for the response.
GLTA
RU
Zinc, don't misunderstand, I am a fan of your posts. However, I'm starting to see Unsubstantiated claims like "The direction of the company is already well established and the critical development essentially completed."....this is just NOT, I repeat, NOT TRUE. Whether by you or others....
I'm looking....and will invest my dollars appropriately. I'm a huge fan of this stock. Going forward I think Kim is smart/brilliant enough to guide investors to well deserved rewards. IT is NOT established, yet.
Sorry if I create conflict here it is not my intent. DDD.
GLTA
RU
More on why Sigma invested in ZFN technology in the first place....from Sept 2009 interview...I pilfered this from the IV board, for posting here.
GLTA
RU
David Smoller — targeted knockout rats
Sep 1, 2009
Pharmaceutical Technology Europe
Dr. David Smoller, President of the Research Biotech Business Unit at Sigma-Aldrich, speaks to Pharmaceutical Technology Europe about the creation of the first targeted knockout rats, which will enable the development of new human disease models. The rats were created using Sigma-Aldrich's CompoZr zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology. More about this development can be read here.
Q1: Although knockout mice have been used in scientific studies for a while, it has taken years for researchers to create knockout rats. What have been the main difficulties?
Rats are often the preferred choice of disease researchers to conduct testing; rats are a closer physiological model to human disease than mice and are often used to test the efficacy of drugs or treatments for diseases. Researchers began creating knockout mouse models in the 1990s through embryonic stem cell manipulation, which does not work well in rats. This technique established knockout mice as an industry standard for disease modeling despite the inherent drawbacks of the mouse as a research model. Each species has unique barriers and bottlenecks for genetic manipulation; mouse genomes were simply easier to target and manipulate than rat genomes with the technology available at the time. Now, with CompoZr ZFNs, Sigma-Aldrich, along with its academic and corporate partners, has developed a technique to quickly and easily induce targeted gene knockouts in rats. Although individual, untargeted knockout rats have been created before, Sigma-Aldrich will be able to produce targeted knockout rats in a very short period of time with this ZFN technology.
Q2: After so many other researchers have failed to create knockout rats, what made this particular technique succeed?
A handful of knockout rats have been available to researchers for several years, but the main issue limiting their use for research was the practicality and efficiency of producing knockouts with previous techniques, which were untargeted, costly and time consuming. That’s why our ZFNs are so significant. ZFNs are a class of engineered DNA-binding proteins that facilitate targeted editing of the genome within a living cell by creating double-strand breaks in DNA at user-specified locations. Double-strand breaks stimulate the cell’s natural DNA-repair processes, both homologous recombination and nonhomologous end joining, to induce site-specific genetic changes. Previous genetic engineering technologies, including nuclear transfer or the manipulation of embryonic stem cells, could not precisely target or modify a specific region of the genome. Using CompoZr ZFNs, researchers can — for the first time — generate precisely targeted genomic edits, creating cell lines or organisms with user-specified gene deletions, insertions or modifications. These genomic changes are permanent and heritable. The technology has already been widely demonstrated for use in a number of organisms, including invertebrates, zebrafish, mice, cell lines and now rats.
Q3: Why was zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology so crucial?
ZFN technology provides researchers with the ability to target and precisely manipulate the genome of eukaryotic organisms to produce permanent and heritable changes. This technology enables scientists to build entirely new animal models and grow cell lines or entire organisms faster and more efficiently than with conventional technology.
Q4: How have researchers across the globe responded to the breakthrough?
Those familiar with ZFN technology were happy to see it come to market last year via our CompoZr ZFN platform. Those same researchers are even more excited to see its potential for a very practical application: knockout rats for disease research. Researchers in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries in particular, who know the current limitations in both targeted gene editing and biological models for disease research, have been eager to see how well our knockout models perform. I think the greater scientific community has been interested to see where else this technology and technique can be applied, whether in multiple knockout models, gene knock-ins or the development of disease models in higher-order species.
Q5: What benefits does the knockout rat offer over the knockout mouse?
Rats are physiologically similar to humans, making them ideal subjects for modeling human disease and for drug-evaluation studies. ZFN-mediated genome editing is being used to generate novel animal models of disease that more closely mimic human disease, as well as to provide more realistic data on the potential toxicity of new drug compounds. ZFN technology bypasses the current need to conduct cumbersome gene targeting experiments involving nuclear transfer or embryonic stem cells and enables the rapid engineering of animal models. Using CompoZr, scientists can create targeted knockout cell lines and animals in less than half the time of other methods — as little as 1 month for cell lines and 4 months for animal models.
The world’s first targeted knockout rat (left) was created using CompoZr zinc finger nuclease technology to knock-out the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene in the GFP rat (right).
Q6: What is the next step for the consortium involved in the creation of the knockout rat?
Sigma-Aldrich announced the launch of the Sigma Advanced Genetic Engineering (SAGE) Labs in August of 2009. The primary focus of this will be to develop knockout rats with targeted deletions of genes associated with neurological, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases and for toxicology research. Current animal models in these areas, particularly the now-dominant mouse model, often fail to accurately mimic human disease expression and toxicology response. Our goal is to create knockout models that provide a more faithful human biological model and also have wide research and commercial appeal. Our research partners at the Medical College of Wisconsin (WI, USA), led by Dr. Howard Jacob, are exploring further ZFN-mediated gene editing by attempting multiple knockouts in a single organism. Meanwhile, Open Monoclonal Technology (CA, USA), led by Dr. Roland Buelow, is attempting to develop a fully human monoclonal antibody platform based on transgenic rats, and our partners at Sangamo (CA, USA) are exploring other uses of ZFN technology, including its use in a clinical trial for HIV treatment.
Q7: Although they are a necessity in research, animal models of diseases raise a number of ethical questions. How do the researchers involved in the knockout rat research respond to these concerns?
Research animals fulfil a crucial role in biological research and the understanding of human diseases, and we hope that the knowledge our research models provide will help create better human therapeutics. That said, Sigma-Aldrich is committed to ethical research; we follow proper laboratory practices and we look to the “Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals,” which is supported by the US National Institutes of Health and the National Research Council. We ensure that every employee understands the importance of humane care and animal welfare through rigorous orientation and training sessions. We can make a strong case that this approach is a positive development for the field. First, the knockout technique using CompoZr ZFNs actually reduces the number of animals required to develop a viable model. And second, since rats are better models of human diseases, the use of knockout rats for disease research may also reduce the number of animals required for testing.
Q8: What kind of future do you predict for the knockout rat?
Transgenic animal sales and services are a roughly $1 billion field. Initially, we will be a small part of that, but we believe there is significant demand for superior human disease models, especially in the field of toxicology testing, and we expect the strong initial demand to grow when the research community sees how well these models perform. We see a great future for this technology and knockout rats, especially as our genetic understanding of disease grows every day.
Q9: And for ZFN technology?
Sigma-Aldrich, in concert with our academic and corporate partners, is continually exploring new research applications for the CompoZr ZFN technology. One exciting application is generating gene knockouts in other animals for disease research. Because the technique makes direct changes to an early embryo and does not rely on embryonic stem cell manipulation, we have every reason to expect ZFNs will be applicable for other research animals as well. We are also exploring the use of ZFNs for the targeted knock-out of multiple genes within the same animal. The ability to perform multiple-gene deletions will allow us to address more complex genetic diseases and could be a boon for the biotech industry.
Your posted information, should it hold true, puts the SP back in the $0.09-$0.10 range, until news (viable) occurs.
I'll buy more there when it has stabilized...DDD
GLTA
RU
Talk about tea leaves...lol
"KBLB investors appear to be better informed than most and perhaps that's the reason for lack of a downward drift:"
Perhaps so...perhaps not so...
Until material news is offered up, that is a bet that I am reluctant to make. In the absence of new material news, I'd be expecting the SP to settle lower than to stabilize at the current levels.
I have no doubt that news will come...timing may be longer than most here on this board wants to believe it's going to take. Zinc fingers is revolutionizing the genetics industry. KBLB is already inline to make good things happen using them to produce worms capable of delivering pure spider silk in commercially viable quantities. My guess is there is time to be patient. Pick your entry level wisely.
DD
GLTA
Sigma's SAGE article
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/156/the-95000-lab-rats
This is the article...I copied it from the IV board...thought I'd share it here. SAGE Labs is owned by SIAL
IN THE SPRAWLING flatlands west of St. Louis, in a nondescript brown building on an industrial cul-de-sac lined with other bland offices, the headquarters of SAGE Labs blends right in. That's the point. "Given some of the sensitivities around animal research, we try to keep a low profile around location," says Phil Simmons, SAGE's manager of marketing and business development.
Inside, save for a modest molecular-biology lab taking up part of the space, SAGE looks like any other startup -- a fridge full of Cokes, a pot of bad coffee, and a couple dozen young employees with a sometimes alarming enthusiasm for the company's creation. But as with its main product, there's more to SAGE HQ than meets the eye. Behind a very secure wall that serves as a barrier against germs and unwanted visitors, a 22,000-square-foot vivarium houses a colony of beady-eyed inhabitants that represent the culmination of 20-plus years of research in genomics and genetic engineering -- and, perhaps, a key to understanding and curing some of humanity's most vexing ailments.
SAGE, an acronym for Sigma Advanced Genetic Engineering, is in fact no regular startup, but a recently created initiative of St. Louis-based Sigma-Aldrich, the world's largest supplier of research chemicals, which had worldwide sales of $2.3 billion in 2010. SAGE will happily sell you a genetically modified mouse, but you can get those for a dime a dozen (actually, $20 or so for an unmodified off-the-shelf model) elsewhere. SAGE's killer app is its gene-tweaked rat, which costs considerably more -- $445 per animal for catalog models and up to $95,000 for a built-to-order pair. Customers in academia and Big Pharma are lining up, hoping to use the rats to attack everything from autism to cancer to Parkinson's disease.
A STYLIZED RAT logo graces the business cards of SAGE's 35 employees. "We're proud to be working with animals," says product development manager Kristen Bettinger. The ads the company runs in scientific journals feature a rat silhouette mowed, crop-circle style, into a cornfield. The copy reads: YOU AREN'T IMAGINING THINGS. KNOCKOUT RATS ARE FINALLY HERE.
The "finally" isn't just hyperbole. So-called knockout mice, engineered by "turning off" selected genes, have been around since 1989. Knock-in mice, whose DNA is spiked with foreign genes -- often human -- came a few years later. Because of the genetic and physiological similarities between mice and humans, these mice have become widely used to study the function of genes and to model human diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, neurological disorders, and obesity. The inventors of the knockout mouse were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2007.
Rats are even more physiologically similar to humans; their size makes certain experiments easier, and their bigger brains make them a better model for studying neurological conditions. But for almost two decades, efforts to genetically engineer rats via the standard mouse method -- manipulating and culturing embryonic stem cells, implanting them in an embryo, and breeding two more generations of animals to produce a mutant strain -- failed. That changed a few years ago. Over a decade of research, a company named Sangamo BioSciences developed a technology called zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), which it planned to use in therapeutic applications for humans. In 2008, Sigma obtained exclusive rights to use zinc fingers, which are synthetic enzymes, for R&D applications and animal models, and in July 2009, its researchers, along with collaborators from other labs, hailed the creation of the first targeted knockout rats in the prestigious journal Science.
You can think of ZFNs as scissors that snip DNA at any location you choose. (Genes are essentially lined up in a row along two twisting strands of DNA.) Say you want to knock out a gene called p53, which inhibits the growth of tumors. (A rat with fast-growing tumors is a valuable tool for testing potential tumor-shrinking drugs.) You program the ZFNs to find the front end of that gene, inject the ZFNs into the nuclei of one-cell rat embryos, and transfer the modified embryos into a foster mother. At three weeks old, the resulting rat pups are tested for the knockout. DNA has a self-repair mechanism that will "tape up" the cut about 90% of the time, resulting in a normal rat. The other 10% of pups will have the desired knockout. These animals are then bred with one another to create a colony that will consistently pass on the mutation. SAGE has produced knock-in rats the same way.
What may be most remarkable -- or, if you've seen Planet of the Apes, disturbing -- about SAGE's zinc-finger technology is that it seems to work not just in rats and mice but in any animal that produces an embryo. At press time, SAGE was preparing to announce the first successful effort to produce a knockout rabbit, an animal widely used for ocular and cardiovascular research. Pigs, used in studies on skin conditions and cystic fibrosis, are another potential platform. Researchers collaborating with SAGE have also expressed interest in working with monkeys.
SAGE does have competition. Another company, Transposagen, markets a large variety of knockout rats, created through a less-efficient process of random mutation. And in late 2010, researchers announced success at finally creating knockout rats via the embryonic-stem-cell method used in mice, which might also have commercial potential. Still, SAGE has momentum, not to mention Sigma's sales team, on its side. In March 2010, it acquired a breeding company to handle commercial distribution of animals from its catalog. SAGE projects 2011 revenue "in the millions," says SAGE's Simmons. That's a rounding error for Sigma as a whole, but SAGE has already succeeded in creating buzz among investors, which signals Sigma's ability to innovate and compete in market segments that are growing much faster than commodity chemicals. "In the last few years, Sigma has invested in differentiating itself with more technically complex products," says Jon Groberg, an analyst with Macquarie Research Equities. "The rat is one of the most interesting. If they can get a number of these things to hit, that could start adding a point or so to organic growth."
Of course, not everyone is gung ho about bringing more animals into the lab. "They've become an essential step for high-impact scientific publication, but there's often an unrealistic view on what these models can actually tell us," says Thomas Hartung, director of Johns Hopkins's Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing. In his own field of toxicology, for instance, Hartung points out that mice and rats predict toxicity in each other only about 60% of the time. "Imagine how limited this is as a tool to predict toxicity in humans." What's more, Hartung says, knockout animals haven't brought the promised cures for patients; the number of drugs making it to market has actually gone down dramatically since knockout mice became available. "Very few diseases are explained by one gene only," says Hartung. "An animal, or human, is a damn complicated thing."
The rats' ultimate benefit to humanity will come down to what scientists start finding out in the next couple of years. "The wonderful thing about science is that, good or bad, researchers will tell you what a particular tool can or cannot do," says Andy Shih, vice president for scientific affairs of Autism Speaks, the largest not-for-profit group funding research on autism-spectrum disorders. "The things we're talking about now -- diagnostics and drug discovery -- would have been pure science fiction five years ago. Now, we could have solutions for families in 5 to 10 years."
A version of this article appears in the June 2011 issue of Fast Company.
GLTA
RU
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0011234
Enjoy, found this article from what you posted Ocho....
RU
Kim owns just over 56% of the outstanding shares...per the company's 10K. This was posted by me shortly after it's release. Hope this clears up the argument.
GLTA
RU
Maybe we could cross the silk worm with the catalba (catawba) worm and feed them from the tree's of the same name right here in south-central us. Cheap labor, low taxes for good jobs...GREAT fishing!! LOL
You never know....
RU
Only material news will keep the price up. A PR announcing an upcoming CC, is not material, except the discussion hinges on clear steps management is/will be taking now/in the near future, to establish a traditional business plan. That would be the only material news I would expect from a CC. A CC is not the time or place to announce a deal for the products/IP the company has amassed to date.
I would love to see a PR announcing a deal. It would surely add to KBLB's ability, financially to execute on a business plan.
If the price is rising in anticipation of deals being announced at a CC, it will come back to us, somewhere between yours and Edwards number..and trade in that range until what time a PR occurs.
KBLB MUST HAVE MONEY to do ANYTHING.
I'm looking....
RU
And on this you are receiving no argument from me. I was thinking the same thing as I was presenting SGMO's most recent quarterly results. Different and slower set of circumstances. Implied was only that if plans are made by KBLB to execute on either of the two business scenarios you presented (which most here would think are feasible/realistic), then that groundwork should have begun/is beginning, and would I think be "material" news. When will we see it? It has to manifest is the form of new hires or licensing agreements, yes?
My best guess is it may be a blend of the two, maybe a bit like SGMO. Retain part for yourself, and license the other parts which appear to be more time consuming and detract from your core goals. What are KBLB's core goals? And which markets do you retain if your are Kim to achieve the best result for the current shareholder, if it is a blend?
I'd welcome discourse in that direction. Partner basic textiles for percent of sales and hold the more lucrative technicals and or medicals is my thought. And if you agree this is the most logical progression tomorrow and into the future, do you think Kim's got the same mentality?
I'm looking.
RU
I enjoy all the speculation here on this board. And agree those are two of the obvious ways forward, business-wise. I have been in SGMO for over 7 years and an avid follower of their company. I, like you am long SGMO. I like their model, I like their management. But I can attest, first hand, to how slowly their revenues are ramping from their involvement with both DAS and SIAL. (They did receive large up front payments and also have the opportunity to earn more on milestones met.) But, as to actual revenues from "royalties" is just now starting to see a ramping...12-18mos after the SIAL licensing their ZFN tech. q1 royalties from SIAL were reported at $900K MOL, and I for one am looking for more clarity, as i do not know if that one quarter royalty number is from 10.5% of SIAL sales of ZFN related products or if the number SGMO reports also includes licensing fees.
But, can anyone say what KBLB's plan actually is? Maybe this is what Kim's CC will reveal middle month. I personally would like to know. I'm looking.
GLTA
RU
For sure Kim's foresight in using ZFN's I feel strongly is a wise decision. I'm sure there are more, ie piggybac's for the Gen1 product.
RU
Zinc, there is certainly no argument from me that markets and applications are deep as you have again most clearly presented.
The disconnect I have is who's tending to the practical side of KBLB's business development so they might take advantage of those limitless opportunities? I Kim taking the point in KBLB's day-in day-out drudge and trudge required for a company to take advantage of supplying markets with product(s) demanded by them?
You do bring up an interesting question in your attempt to understand what form KBLB's business might take when you say..
"KBLB's business model could be: Genetically modify an organism (first in the silkworm using its spider genes) to produce a product, make a deal for royalties with some company(or companies) to produce that product and after that the royalties continue to come in with negligible further input or effort from KBLB. Take the money and on the next one, expand the company to enable working on multiple projects simultaneously."
I think the majority of the board here believes KBLB's business is simply to "make spider silk and then sell it for a profit". I don't know myself, as I've seen no guidance from management beyond "we are a research and development company involved in the genetic modification of silk worms which is in transition and plans are to leverage these results of our GM Silkworm into commercial applications requiring the use of our spider-silk products" (me paraphrasing).
Does anyone here know the physical make-up of the board well enough to know they can and will make the proper hires to walk this company forward regardless?
This is what I am looking for here and I hope to see it. Any comments along these lines will be appreciated by me in particular. If is see something along these lines of import I'll surely be passing it on to the board.
Thanks for your insights.
RU
Thanks for the mention, I'll add ZincF has done a great job of sharing his expertise regarding the impact ZFN's could have on the KBLB investor...although I may not be as aggressive, at the moment in KBLB's time horizon, as he seems to be at the moment. I do think long(er) term (6-18mos) this stock is going to have a hard time failing (failure = shares worth less than what you buy them for today).
I have no doubt the science can do what it is anticipated it will do. The question for me is how well KBLB management handles it's opportunity in parlaying its scientific accomplishments into tangible business success(es). This is what I'll be measuring. This measurement is, imo, necessarily always the hardest part for a traditional R&D company to navigate. I have uncovered nothing that would give me pause, yet. I will be looking and hope all here do the same.
I look forward to all your posts.
RU
Exactly, well said Man...everyone should read Manshoon1's post(s).
RU
Hope for good news.....yes, but expect just..."news". It is only a CC. In my honest opinion investors here should "hope for a PR"...that would be "good news".
FWIW...If we don't get a PR prior to the CC, I expect we'll come back to (or just below) the range we were trading in last week. Trading in the .10's again and I'll add to my meger position once i see stability return to the stock price.
I personally like to see relatively stable share prices in companies that have solid science backing up products which have the ability to achieve wide acceptance across its intended market consisting of numerous commercial applications (more shots on goal). When I find a company meeting this criteria, I will only invest my $$'s when the share price is "stable" whether or not that "stable price" is higher or lower than my initial position. I'm holding till "stability" returns. For point of reference, last week was "stable" to me, until Friday afternoon.
This Friday's spike looks artificial. Traders trade. When they have been flushed through the system, and stability resumes, I will go back to picking up more shares. Here's to hoping it's at $.13 or higher...especially for those buying into Friday's close.
GLTA
RU
I like the prospects of this company long term as much as the next guy/gal on this board...but...not sure it's a good idea to put a half billion dollar market cap on KBLB,... yet. Got a couple more loose ends to tie up before we are there, imho.
Great posts, all.
Be smart, prosper.
RU
well there is a scarcity of spidersilk at the moment..lol Hopefully not for long..
RU