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This Max Sound Corporation Midyear Shareholder Update was released 10 days ago.
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Max Sound Corporation’s (MAXD) CEO provides the following update to its shareholders.
Dear MAXD Shareholders,
I want to thank each of you for your continual support as we strive towards finally achieving the sales and share value that we feel will be in our sites before the end of 2018.
STOCK MANIPULATION FROM ILLEGAL NAKED SHORT SELLING
Earlier this summer Max Sound Corp. engaged a leading provider of Regulation SHO compliance monitoring, short sale trading statistics and market integrity surveillance to examine substantial short selling of its stock. The results were shocking and disturbing: “Max Sound Corporation (MAXD) has and is being victimized by Manipulative Trading Practices and Abusive Naked Short Selling for the past three years with the culprit’s objective to lower the price and harm the Company,” said John Blaisure – CEO, Max Sound Corp.
“We asked the SEC and FINRA to act on MAXD’s complaints and accelerate their investigations on the five major Market Makers, which are performing these illegal naked short selling activities, share counterfeiting and failing to deliver shares,” added Mr. Blaisure. “For anyone who doubts the reality of Naked Short Selling as a way that these market makers steal around 70 billion dollars a year of real equity from American middle class and blue collar investors who believe in the Small American Business Microcaps they are the primary investors of, here is a letter the Company received on July 23, 2018 along with a 198 page published report from the first court recognized expert on the subject of Naked Short Selling – Attorney Wes Christian of Christian Smith and Jewel.”
“Several months ago I was hired as a “Naked Short Selling Expert” for a particular case in Federal Court of the Southern District of Florida (the “Case”). In the Case, which was tried before the court last week, I opined that: a) 40 to 70 percent of the daily trading volume (from Sept 2007 to Sept 2008) were counterfeit shares in the form of fails to deliver; and b) there were another 45 million shares in “hidden fails”, which were revealed by virtue of a new Cusip number assigned to the “replacement shares” issued after a 4500 to 1 reverse split. This reverse split required to redeem your physical share(s) with the old Cusip number for a new share(s) with a different Cusip number. The final conclusion I reached was that there were 100 million counterfeit shares sold when the total shares issued by the company were only 65 million. The SEC and the DOJ filed NO REBUTTAL TO MY REPORT. In fact, they accepted my report into evidence and told another lawyer from Kravath (after both sides rested) that they did not rebutt anything because they were TERRIFIED OF ME AND MY FINDINGS. This is, to my knowledge, the first time: 1) a court has accepted anyone as a naked short selling expert; and 2) allowed such report (and my rebuttal report) to be put into evidence. This is important to all of us litigating in this space, as we now have a precedent for this. In addition, the revelation of the level of counterfeit shares was compelling. I have enclosed my report and all exhibits for your review. Please note the number of sanctions and fines against wall street which single spaced is 25 pages, the vast majority of which is for mis-marking tickets long when they are short, not borrowing shares, and failing to deliver etc.
MAXD’s Market Makers are Knight/Virtu (NITE), Cantor Fitzgerald (CANT), Canaccord Genuity (CSTI), Citadel (CDEL) and eTrade/G1 (ETRF).
Many of our investors have been following and asking about the Naked Short Selling that has been happening to their various penny stocks (including MAXD) and are interested in knowing more about stock manipulation and the corresponding SEC and FINRA-filed complaints. Again today, in conjunction with release, we have filed our third set of complaints with the SEC and FINRA and are requesting once more that they enforce the law that is there for them and requires them to stop this activity.
“Since MAXD filed complaints with the country’s top regulatory bodies, these same bad actors have continued their all-out assault on the Company’s stock, but we are confident that either a short squeeze, or FINRA and/or SEC intervention is eminent to eliminate this blatant theft of our shareholder’s equity” continued Mr. Blaisure. “We estimate that there are currently 22 billion shares short which is about 4 times the number of shares issued and outstanding. We believe there will soon be significant buy-ins so it will be interesting to see if any of the 5 market makers blinks first. Technically, there are only enough shares for one of the market makers to financially survive the short squeeze we are working on.”
To learn more here is a primer on the subject:
http://counterfeitingstock.com/CounterfeitingStock.html and here is a powerful article put into actual practice https://theintercept.com/series/penny-stock-chronicles/
HD AUDIO TECHNOLOGY AND LICENSING
Late last year I had a tremendously positive trip to China and met with industry leaders at the Hong Kong Summit trip. The opportunity to port onto an enormous mobile chipset market with MAX-D Voice became evident and we are significantly far along in the completion of the development phase.
During the first and second quarters of 2018, at the request of several large OEMs, the Company conducted Audio Lab tests to greatly improve cellular voice calls with our improved technology and it is finally becoming clear to many Mobile Phone OEMs that the demand for a higher quality, clearer phone call is very important to consumers.
MAXD LITIGATIONS
Since 2014, most of you have been following the ongoing ups-and-downs of our litigation battles with Google. The first battle related to the Optimized Data Transmission patents, including U.S. Patent …339, sometimes labeled “David vs. Googleiath” was where Google sent back a road-map of the technology theft on yellow Post It notes, and the second was the Attia litigation, including the Court-granted leave to amend the complaint to add causes of action against defendants for civil violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly known as RICO).
The 339 Patent matter for Optimized Video Data Transmission is up for Appeal this fall and the positive outcome there will substantially affect our financial success going forward.
“In the Attia matter, the Fifth Amended Complaint was just filed along with Attia’s Stipulation for Entry of Order of Dismissal,” said Mr. Blaisure. “This allows the State Case for Trade Secret Theft and Misappropriation to go back to the State Court at the present time, and the RICO case to go to the Appeals Court where we will get a fair hearing, instead of the Court in Google’s backyard where the court nearly always rules in their favor regardless of right or wrong. We know we have a good likelihood of success associated with these lawsuits and continue to fight on towards either a beneficial settlement or a court ordered verdict. Both cases are on a contingency and there is a third party litigation funder looking to cover the costs going forward. In either case, MAX-D has dramatically lowered its costs going forward so our upside has been improved while substantially eliminating our future cost risk to get to the finish line.”
THE COALITION AGAINST GOOGLE
In response to the overwhelming number of requests from various individuals and small businesses harmed by the internet giant, last year Max Sound committed to lead THE COALITION AGAINST GOOGLE. Since that announcement, many victims have come forward and joined this coalition. Our team has been working daily, compiling an ever-growing database of Google victims and released, “The Catalog of Google Crimes”. You can visit http://GoogleCrimes.org and download this Catalog. The site also allows anyone to add their stories to the Catalog by using the submission page and lastly, you can delete Google and all of its products from your life permanently by following the step-by-step supplement at http://GoogleCrimes.org/take-back-your-privacy. “We have been informed that in addition to the nearly 8 billion dollars of fines since last year against Google for Anti-trust violations that there are many other potential damages of that magnitude or greater that Google will potentially face down the road,” continued Mr. Blaisure.
COMPANY DEBT
As you can imagine, running a Company that is simultaneously developing and deploying its core technology, fighting Google while dealing with naked short sellers who are also RegSHO violators takes a lot of resources. We are truly grateful to our strong shareholder base that continues to buy stock even as it gets sold short with counterfeit shares by market makers. We also are grateful that our convertible debt notes were recently bought out by an investor friendly to the Company, which we expect will soon help with the stock price and dilution.
OTHER AREAS OF PROGRESS AND COMPANY ASSETS
Last June, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued patent 9,679,427 on MAXD IP for Biometric Audio Security. A great deal of interest was generated at the Hong Kong Asia Summit and we will continue to seek license opportunity discussions with these interested companies in 2018. The Company has been granted the following registered trademarks: Max Sound®, MAXD® and MAX-D Audio Perfected® and HD Audio®.
The MAX-D API (Application Programming Interface) allows the MAX-D algorithm to be inserted into applications such as streaming services, auto head units, DSP memory in chips and speakers, developer platforms and web-based applications. Our MAX-D HD Audio App is used and enjoyed by a user base of well over 500,000 subscribers and MAX-D continues to play a role in the hearing health initiatives of our youth and is working towards reversing this silent epidemic. A few years ago we announced the successful results of a University of Florida study demonstrating MAX-D’s hearing health benefits, and our Chairman met with leaders in Washington DC from the Congressional Hearing Health Caucus and the National Institute of Health.
ONWARD TO SUCCESS
We continue to strive and move forward with our technologies and litigations while at the same time minimizing debt and dilution as much as possible. While nothing has moved nearly as fast as we had all hoped, with the progress we’ve made we are more optimistic than ever that success through major brand recognition and revenue is imminent in 2018.
Thank you sincerely for taking up your valuable time to go over this with us and for your continued support.
Very truly yours,
John Blaisure - CEO
Max Sound Corporation
ABOUT MAX SOUND COROPORATION
MAX-D is to audio what HD (High Definition) is to video. The MAX-D® Audio Process makes everything sound better and can convert any audio file to high definition quality while significantly reducing the file size. Visit us www.maxd.audio Max Sound® and MAX-D® are Registered Trademarks and Patent Pending technologies wholly owned by Max Sound Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
ABOUT MAX-D HD AUDIO TECHNOLOGY
The MAX-D HD Audio Technology is currently delivering Clean, High Definition Audio without increasing file size - fitting life-like HD Audio into our existing gigantic ever-growing compressed audio eco-system. We believe that we are nearing additional licensing adoption with a number of companies interested in the cost savings provided by MAX-D as we reduce data streaming costs while providing a higher quality HD Audio experience. In parallel to providing reduce data streaming costs, we also provide additional savings to potential licensors by delivering a nearly seamless low cost changeover. The MAX-D Technology can now be added quickly and economically to any industry or audio platform, as there is no need for bigger pipes, bigger servers, new consumer appliances, or higher data costs (which would be rejected by today’s cost-conscious consumers and data providers). Although smaller file sizes and cost savings are beginning to captivate companies who are looking closely at their bottom-lines. The average consumer is interested in the CLEAN HD SOUND! Whether your music is streamed with MAX-D or voice is processed with MAX-D - MAX-D HD Audio Simply Sounds Better. Consumers agree that MAX-D MP3 files sound incredible (yet remains one-tenth the size of a .wav file). MAX-D provides more clarity, dimension, articulation and impact in every range of the audio spectrum while random artifacts and harshness are gone.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: Statements in this press release which are not purely historical, including statements regarding Max Sound's intentions, beliefs, expectations, representations, projections, plans or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the risks associated with the effect of changing economic conditions, trends in the products markets, variations in the company's cash flow or adequacy of capital resources, market acceptance risks, technical development risks, and other risk factors. The company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Max Sound disclaims any obligation and does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this press release. Expanded and historical information is made available to the public by Max Sound Corporation and its Affiliates on its website www.maxd.audio or at www.sec.gov
SOURCE: Max Sound Corporation
Phone: 800-327-MAXD
Email: info@maxsound.com
Relating to the 2 cases (Google matter & Attia matter), or Max Sound developing it's own market share outside of those two cases?
In your analysis, what could make it run?
The future of what? Trucking?
What's coming?
Did you Really LOL, or are you just typing that to mock my post? Just curious, no hard feelings.
They can announce cool stuff in the 10-Q if they want to. Maybe they'll have some info in there about recent awesome developments... hunh
So you say this about CYPE
Been 34 minutes since last trade at .075. Looks like folks aren't letting go of their shares. Will the price go up, will the price go down??? I think they'll try to tank it to trigger stop losses in the low range, but this is looking like up if people want to get shares. What news will come? How will the Q affect the pps?
Holding on
$INND
Accumulation for what? What happens next?
Doctor Speaks Out About Cannabis... WOW!
https://www.facebook.com/dj.nicke.film/videos/2126522430708519/
$OWCP is a big time player in medical cannabis R&D.
The future is bright for OWCP. Management sees the bigger picture.
"We are currently working on a few GREAT developments, that we will be ready to publicly disclose probably by next week."
Interesting
Thanks for the info
That's like saying, "Dry land is a myth"
Haha... funniest post of the year.
&INND
So far the trading action looks like smoke and mirrors to me. We need some big blocks buying to annihilate this and get us past 12 and back to 13... could happen at any time... GLTA
Camaraderie is great and all, but Isn't everyone trading stocks just to make money?
InnerScope Hearing Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: INND) announced today that Walmart.com has successfully launched the Company's FDA-Registered Hearing Aids and its Personal Sound Amplifier Products ("PSAPs") to be sold Direct-To-Consumer to Walmart.com's online customers. (8/9/18)
Walmart links:
https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=hearing%20aids%20for%20ears&cat_id=0&typeahead=hear
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Alpha-3-Hearing-Aid-Smartphone-Enabled-Premium-Hearing-Device-Patented-Noise-Blocking-System-Right-or-Left/723285115
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Alpha-5-Hearing-Aid-Smartphone-Enabled-Premium-Hearing-Device-Patented-Noise-Blocking-System-Right-or-Left/708900558
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Alpha-9-Hearing-Aid/679890260
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Teeny-Sound-Amplifier-Fits-Either-Ear-Clear-Color-Premium-In-the-Ear-Sound-Amplification/272111527
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crescent-Sound-Amplifier/915134470
https://www.walmart.com/ip/BlackCat-Personalized-Sound-Amplifier/542735795
How often do ya see a OTC stock announce a deal with Walmart and then 8 days later announce that their product is up and live on the Walmart website with all the links to each product? In this case a whole line of quality hearing aids and batteries for them. Doesn't get more real then that.
$INND
Yesterday HOD was .159, good chance it will run again before the weekend. How often do ya see a OTC stock announce a deal with walmart and then 8 days later announce that their product is up and live on the Walmart website with all the links to each product? In this case a whole line of quality hearing aids and batteries for them. Doesn't get more real then that.
https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=hearing%20aids%20for%20ears&cat_id=0&typeahead=hear
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Alpha-3-Hearing-Aid-Smartphone-Enabled-Premium-Hearing-Device-Patented-Noise-Blocking-System-Right-or-Left/723285115
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Alpha-5-Hearing-Aid-Smartphone-Enabled-Premium-Hearing-Device-Patented-Noise-Blocking-System-Right-or-Left/708900558
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Alpha-9-Hearing-Aid/679890260
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Teeny-Sound-Amplifier-Fits-Either-Ear-Clear-Color-Premium-In-the-Ear-Sound-Amplification/272111527
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crescent-Sound-Amplifier/915134470
https://www.walmart.com/ip/BlackCat-Personalized-Sound-Amplifier/542735795
GLTA
$$$$
$INND
Looks like reversal time. Got some @ .0751
$INND
thanks for taking the time to reply.
I'm not doubting what you're saying about the authorized shares, -BUT- why would Adrian intentional report the auth shares to be 25B if it's actually only 12.5B? I get it, to sell more shares, -BUT- Wouldn't the OTC Markets know what the real amount of A/S is? The OTC shows 25B. Also wouldn't the TA know?
That would be cool.
It's a shame Traios is doing this. R/S never end well.
Does anyone know how to look up when the R/S is scheduled to happen?
This is a real company with solid DD.
I'm speculating but I think the company paid the dividend with common stock as outlined.
imo it was a good buying opportunity.
"Holders of the Series A Preferred Shares are entitled to receive dividends on each share of the Series A Preferred Stock, payable quarterly on March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31, commencing June 30, 2018 (which will be prorated) in an amount equal to five percent (5%) per annum of the stated value ($10,000 per share of the Series A Preferred Stock) and which shall be cumulative. Such dividends are to be paid in cash or freely tradeable shares of our common stock at our sole discretion, subject to certain conditions. In the event that we elect to pay a dividend in shares of our common stock to the holders of the Series A Preferred Shares, the number of shares of our common stock will be determined in accordance with the terms of the Series A Preferred Shares."
$OWCP
Dr. Zeevi is an inventor on 17 GRANTED Patents.
You can focus on the Patents not granted at this time, etc., but reality is that she has a lot of experience with the patent process with much success.
$OWCP
I see this price drop as a great buying opportunity. I got one order filled, waiting to get my second order filled.
I think this is the dilution we expected, and of course some panic selling. Sure the PPS may go down further -OR- it may go back up sooner than we think.
...firesale
$OWCP
Zeevi was one of the 2 main reasons NeuroDerm became a Unicorn worth over $1 Billion. Even NeuroDerm went through rough times.
"Israeli company NeuroDerm was sold to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma for $1.1 billion in the largest-ever Israeli pharma exit. NeuroDerm has two important characteristics that enabled it to become a unicorn - a company with a value of over $1 billion. The first is a smoothly running management team that graduated from the Ofakim incubator in 2006, but which managed NeuroDerm like a large company, even when it had only a few employees.
The second element is the company's technological solution, for which chief science officer Oron Yacoby-Zeevi is responsible."
Read the whole article here:
http://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israeli-pharma-co-neuroderm-sold-for-11b-1001198365
How we achieved Israel's biggest-ever pharma exit
by Gali Weinreb, 7 Aug, 2017
CSO Dr. Oron Yacoby-Zeevi tells about the day Neuroderm almost closed down, and how Israeli venture capital funds missed the opportunity to invest.
Israeli company NeuroDerm was sold to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma for $1.1 billion in the largest-ever Israeli pharma exit. NeuroDerm has two important characteristics that enabled it to become a unicorn - a company with a value of over $1 billion. The first is a smoothly running management team that graduated from the Ofakim incubator in 2006, but which managed NeuroDerm like a large company, even when it had only a few employees.
The second element is the company's technological solution, for which chief science officer Oron Yacoby-Zeevi is responsible. NeuroDerm has developed a liquid formulation of an existing drug for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease. This breakthrough improves the lives of patients with the disease, while at the same time generating revenue for the company. Many companies have tried and failed to develop similar technology.
Yacoby-Zeevi tells "Globes" about the search for this liquid formulation, the unsuccessful trial that almost made the company close down, and the investors in Israel who almost completely missed the boat with NeuroDerm.
Yacoby-Zeevi, originally a veterinarian, has PhDs in microbiology and immunology. Before she was hired by NeuroDerm, she was R&D manager at InSight Biopharmaceuticals, which manufactures drugs, mainly generic ones, and chief scientist at Harlan Biotech, which provides development and pre-clinical trials services for pharma companies. "I came to NeuroDerm in 2008," she says, "after the company finished its period in the Ofakim incubator. I reached a watershed after leaving Harlan. On the one hand, I was contacted by NeuroDerm, while on the other hand, I had an offer to return to InSight. I chose to go back to InSight, but within 10 days, I saw that it was a mistake. I decided to resign and embark on an adventure with NeuroDerm.
"When I got to NeuroDerm, (CEO) Oded (Lieberman, G.W.) explained that the goal was to reach a fixed level of the Levodopa drug in the bloodstream in order to maximize the drug's effectiveness for patients with Parkinson's Disease, with as few side effects as possible, thereby greatly improving the quality of their lives. The patent is a method of administering the drug through the skin. What is involved is not the drug itself; it is a material that breaks down and turns into this drug when it reaches the bloodstream.
"When I arrived, the company had already conducted a small clinical trial that showed that the drug could be administered through the skin. The transition, however, caused real damage to the skin. For months, we developed other materials that break down into Levodopa in the bloodstream. We devised formulations of these materials, and tested their effect on the skin. After months of intensive work, we concluded that it was impossible to administer so much material through the skin without damaging it."
Yacoby-Zeevi presented the situation at a meeting she remembers as being dramatic. "NeuroDerm had 12 employees at that point. Ostensibly, we had a product at the clinical stage (human trials, G.W.), and all of sudden, the product didn't work."
Lieberman instructed Yacoby-Zeevi to try a different approach. In retrospect, she discovered that on that same day, Lieberman had met with the major investors in NeuroDerm, Robert Taub and Uwe Wascher, and told them that the company would have to close down. The investors and the CEO decided that NeuroDerm would become another entry on the list of scientific failures and would be shut down. Since the company still had a small amount of cash, it was decided to briefly delay closing the company down, and give the R&D team a chance to look for a new solution.
Yacoby-Zeevi says that she did not completely realize at the time how grave the situation was. "Oded constantly told me, 'Do what you do best, and I'll take care of the money'," she says. At the same time, both she and the other employees realized that NeuroDerm had turned from a company with one product into a company with no products. "For me, it was never the end of the story," she remembers. "In the R&D team, we said, 'If one way doesn't work, we'll think of another way. That's how we got the idea of delivering the material into the bloodstream using a pump. No company was working on such a product at the time."
"People aren't pigs"
The Levodopa drug was replaced by a drug that delays the breakdown of Levodopa in the body (Carbidopa) administered simultaneously with oral Levodopa. "With this product, we got amazing results without any damage to the skin. It was our first breakthrough," Yacoby-Zeevi says. The effect on animals was stunning, and then human trials began, where the effect was significantly smaller. "It seems that people are not pigs, after all," she says.
At this stage, the company stood at a crossroads. One possibility was to develop the combined product - oral Levodopa and Carbidopa with a pump. This alternative was relatively safe, but the change it could have made in the lives of Parkinson's patients was fairly limited. The second option, which involved a bigger risk, was to develop an integrated product administering both materials through the skin. The question was whether the Levodopa could be administered without causing damage.
"We thought at first that we wouldn't manage to solve the problem of administering Levodopa through the skin, and even if we succeeded, there might be severe side effects in the skin in the area of the infusion, so it was worthwhile to remain with a combination of Carbidopa and oral Levodopa - a bird in the hand. In opposition to the majority opinion in the company, and despite the many resources required, Oded decided to examine both options simultaneously - on the one hand to bring the Carbidopa product to clinical trials as a backup, while on the other hand developing the combined product, and as soon as its feasibility was proven, to abandon the Carbidopa product. That's what eventually happened. We succeeded in developing the combined product that delivers both Carbidopa and Levodopa directly into the bloodstream. The Carbidopa product that depended on giving oral Levodopa was abandoned."
The combined product causes fewer side effects in the skin in the area in which the needle is inserted than a product based solely on Levodopa. "We hypothesize that there will be patients for whom it will be unsuitable, just like any other drug, but we truly believe that for most patients, it will be the solution that they have hoped for and looked forward to - a game-changing solution that will change the way of treating the disease."
"Oded hurried to raise money"
Like most startups, NeuroDerm also suffered from a lack of cash. Yacoby-Zeevi says, "Only later did I learn that the company several times reached a situation in which it was not clear that it would be able to pay salaries. We scientists didn't know about it. Management wanted to protect us and keep us free for our work. We did see, however, that Oded went running all over looking for money every summer, instead of going on vacation."
Most of the investors were from Europe, and most were private investors who heard about the company from Robert Taub and Uwe Wascher, or through the connections with Lieberman, who previously worked in Europe. The sole significant Israeli investor was Prof. Shmuel Cabilly, an angel investor in many biomed companies.
Yacoby-Zeevi says, "Other than Robert Taub, most of our investors are non-Jews having no previous connection with Israel. Today, they say that a miracle happened for them in Israel, because it's one of their best-ever investments. In the financing round before the offering, a South Korean fund came in for which it was the first investment in Israel, and they made back their money six times over in less than two years. We also got support from the Chief Scientist and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Venture capital funds, on the other hand, didn't want to invest, especially the Israeli ones."
"Globes": What did they say?
Yacoby-Zeevi: "Not long ago, I heard Oded laugh about one of the potential investors telling him that the company had 'no exit strategy'."
"A bad period"
NeuroDerm tried to become a public company in 2010 through an IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). One month before the offering, the company decided to call it off, a decision that in retrospect appears to have been wise. Although investment concerns in Israel did not understand NeuroDerm's potential, Capital Point Ltd. (TASE:CPTP), which became the franchise holder for the Ofakim incubator after NeuroDerm was founded, and obtained the incubator's shares in NeuroDerm, was the second significant Israeli shareholder in NeuroDerm. Since Capital Point is listed on the TASE, the Israeli public was able to invest indirectly in NeuroDerm by investing in Capital Point. Capital Point sold most of its holdings in NeuroDerm in 2016, and therefore did not benefit from the big exit, but nevertheless distributed a substantial dividend to its investors.
Four years after calling off its TASE IPO, NeuroDerm decided to try its luck on Nasdaq. More than 10 Israeli drug development companies held IPOs in 2014. "We came in at the end of that wave. It was a bad time for an offering. There was a problem with our bankers, who left two days before the offering (due to corruption and sex scandals, G.W.), and Israeli companies encountered various difficulties," Yacoby-Zeevi explains. The NeuroDerm IPO was held at a lower price and company value than that sought by the company, and the share lost 50% of its value in the first 45 days, as happened to most of the Israeli companies that held IPOs at the time.
In the final week of 2014, the company benefited from a positive coincidence, luck or good karma. NeuroDerm undertook to publish the results of its first clinical trial by the end of the year, but the results were delayed, and arrived on December 30, in the middle of the holiday season. The bankers funding the company claimed that there was no point in publishing the results - everyone was on vacation, and no one would see them.
Yacoby-Zeevi remembers, "It was important to Oded to keep his promise, so it was decided to publish the results during the vacation. So they were published on a day on which there was very little news, and they attracted a great deal of attention." The company doubled its market cap in a single day on a huge trading volume, and this fact attracted interest from investment concerns on Nasdaq that do not generally invest in small companies or health companies. In a single day, almost by chance, NeuroDerm made it to the big leagues.
The investors exposed to the company realized the product's advantages. On the one hand, the product had less regulatory risk. The drug was known, the trials showed that it could pass through the skin, and the chances of the company's trials being a colossal failure, which could happen with a new drug, were small.
On the other hand, the product was very promising - perhaps not as much as a completely new drug, but the company's formulation was patent-protected, just like a drug. The company had a real technological risk at the beginning, when the product did not work at all, but by the time it reached Nasdaq, the risk had been substantially reduced. In addition, during the time following the IPO, a surgical procedure was introduced designed to put Levodopa directly into the bloodstream - a treatment not linked to the company.
When the market discovered that NeuroDerm could replace an operation with a non-invasive pump, the share climbed again. "Some of the patients will be able to postpone the procedure for several years, while others will not need it at all," Yacoby-Zeevi says. NeuroDerm is currently conducting one trial in the US and another in Europe, so its product is not risk-free, but the investors in the company will soon receive the acquisition proceeds, and their exit is already guaranteed.
Did the IPO change NeuroDerm's organizational culture? All of a sudden, you had money.
"The company grew from 18 to 80 employees, and we moved to new offices, but we remained - I won't say modest, but we didn't start excessive spending. We did have expensive clinical trials facing us. My feeling is that despite the big changes, we preserved the organizational culture."
From 2008 until just before the IPO in 2014, a dozen employees worked at the company with almost no change. Yacoby-Zeevi managed half of them, and the rest worked in management, including Lieberman, COO Alon Yaar (Tami Yardeni currently fills this position), chemistry, manufacturing, and controls head Dr. Sharon Cohen-Vered, and CMO Dr. Sheila Oren.
"All of these people joined after the company had conducted only one small clinical trial. Most companies do not recruit managers in these areas at those stages, but already at that stage, Oded regarded NeuroDerm not as a startup, but as a small pharma company. He used to say that companies that do not take production, quality, and clinical trials into account at the R&D stage pay a heavy price later on. He also hired only people with experience," Yacoby-Zeevi says.
Explaining the importance of an experienced team at the company's initial stages, Yacoby-Zeevi says, "Because we had an experienced production manager (Cohen-Vered) already at the formulation development stage, there was no problem in replacing an element in the formulation with a better-known element. That saved us a lot of work.
"The company actually worked according to the book from the first day, both when we were in a state of economic strangulation and when things were less acute. The trials were well-ordered, with no shortcuts. Documentation was precise, production was at the best sites, and all communications were in English."
What are you doing now? Your important job ostensibly ended after you prepared the formulation.
"We went on improving the formulation between the trials. There were several changes along the way that made it exceptionally stable, and also made patent protection longer. The patents were all ours - NeuroDerm homemade. Today, we provide support for production and the integration between the formulation and the pump."
The IPO and the acquisition are amazing events, but this is also the end of NeuroDerm in its familiar format. Realizing a dream ends it.
"NeuroDerm brought me to completely new places. Inventing ideas, solving chemical problems, and writing patents is what I know, but bringing something to market that's real and useful to patients is the first time for me, and that's very exciting. I have many more ideas on paper. I only wish that the same thing happens with them.
"My hope for the company was for it to be acquired, mainly for the product, because an international marketer is the right entity to bring this product to the market in a way that maximizes its success potential. There's no doubt that the company has topnotch personnel able to operate well as a team. This is now one of the biggest and best budgeted groups around, and certainly the most experienced, working on Parkinson's Disease. Even in giant corporations, the group working on Parkinson's Disease is not necessarily larger. We don't know what will happen now."
The employee who joined at age 70 and died before the exit
One of the factors that contributed to NeuroDerm's success was the decision to look for experienced employees. One of the employees hired was Mara Nemas, who was 70 years old at the time.
Nemas worked many years at the company, and died a few months before the exit. "Mara was one of the most amazing chemists I have ever met," Yacoby-Zeevi says. "This formulation wouldn't have existed without her.
"When Mara arrived, she was working here part-time, then full-time. Then she got cancer, and when she recovered, she went back to work here two days a week, but even on this limited schedule, she contributed so much to us. Even when the cancer recurred, and up until the very final stage, including in her final weeks, she constantly read and thought and advised us. She was there in order to help us."
Yacoby-Zeevi adds, "We all shared a great love for Mara. She always thought about everyone, with something small and personal to give them. She was always smiling and enthusiastic about work, although she didn't have an easy life.
"She loved to do things with her own hands. She didn't give things to other people to do; she wanted to feel the work."
$OWCP
OWCP received a subpoena for records relating to the SEC investigation against Friedland; you can argue it all day long but the fact is there never was an investigation against OWCP, and OWCP fully complied with the subpoena.
Since then, the SEC has deemed OWCP's S-1 as EFFECTIVE which they would have never done if OWCP was under investigation by the SEC.
You said this yourself in a previous post.
IGLOW wrote:
"OWCP has to file a S-1 and the SEC has to declare it effective - with OWCP being investigated by the SEC it will never be deemed effective"
On July 2, 2018 the SEC issued a "Notice of Effectiveness" for the Form S-1
$OWCP has been exonerated by the SEC.
Have a nice day!
They already filed a 8-K saying they were not party to it. Done.
Bingo! The fact of the matter is that OWCP and OWC have been exonerated by the SEC in multiple ways including them deeming the S-1 EFFECTIVE.
Good DD, thanks for posting!
$OWCP
SPOT ON! as usual
http://ownthefloat.com/index.php/2018/07/07/owcp-the-due-diligence-that-allowed-patience/
$OWCP Long and Strong
Dr. Zeevi's Patent experience is impressive to say the least.
She is a HUGE asset on the OWCP team!
Our 31 patent applications are active and in the process of being modified and updated as we speak, and Dr. Zeevi is definitely an expert at the patent process, especially in the biopharmaceutical field.
Go $OWCP Patent grants are coming
...tick tock
I'm not your boy my friend. Manners.
If anyone really believes that DR. Hirsch and the assembled outstanding team of scientists at OWCP are putting their life's work and achievements at risk because the company is a scam then perhaps you need a reality check into your own sanity.
Why would I hate you or kitty? And I wasn't making any kind of "argument" or "speculation", nor am I now.
I did make a point though, which was that there was a holiday on Wed and many folks we're on holiday. As for the markets, they did close early on Tues and closed all day Wed but I'm 100% sure that had zero impact on trading this week.
I'm Long OWCP and in no hurry.
80% ??? That's it?
That's pathetic.
mark this one for FO SHO