Elite Pharmaceuticals Annual Shareholder Meeting Notes
The Annual Shareholder Meeting followed a strict agenda with the primary purpose of recording shareholder votes on the submitted proposals. After the formal meeting was adjorned, Elite Pharmaceutical (ELTP) President and CEO, Nasrat Hakim, opened the floor for questions. The following are his responses/statements as recalled by Couch, Hike, Senderos and myself in a collaborative effort to improve accuracy.
Responses related to questions that were submitted/collected previously on iHub:
Any developments/updates in partnership discussions?
Nasrat has had discussions with potential partners. But none to his liking.
Are there plans to enhance ELTP's website? The current one appears visually "dated".
"Absolutely!!!" Dianne Will is working the website makeover. Nasrat made it a point to say he has been having Dianne focus on other pertinent company related matters such as the Proxy Vote materials, including the Shareholder meeting.
Is ELTP still on schedule for at least ONE ART/ADT opioid FDA submission in 2014?
Yes.
How many are planned for 2015?
2015 was not discussed. But Nasrat did mention 17 different ART drugs.
Any plans to present at upcoming conferences again like in September 2013?
The Rodman-Renshaw conference is planned for in September. Would like to do more conferences as time and resources permit. Nasrat mentioned that when ELTP begins to launch its ART products, he would welcome the opportunity to go to more frequent institutional conferences. Nasrat indicated that they do get many invitations.
Is the plan to attempt to market the first drug(s) ourselves by hiring a sales team or partner for sales/marketing?
Nasrat appeared to be leaning towards a sales/marketing partner that had connections/experience in the pain management space.
Does ELTP management stand by the valuation stated in the February conference call?
The valuation was based on the value of ELTP today by appraising its present products and pipeline at the time. Since then, more products have been added to the pipeline.
What is the name of the firm that completed the valuation and, given the events of the past three months, why are you confident the valuation remains accurate?
Nasrat would not reveal who performed the valuation. He stands by the valuation done and has nothing to hide. But wants to protect the valuation company from unnecessary phone calls/contact which might potentially jeopardize its relationship with ELTP.
Is ELTP still active in "moneytizing" their Novel stake? In my opinion, Novel can pay for at least 5 or 6 ART products without further dilution and so use this dilution to expand the company true merger or buyout.
Because Novel is private, a minority owner like ELTP has few options or rights. If, and when, Novel is sold, ELTP should get its share based on the percentage it owns. It would also be possible to sell ELTP's stake in Novel to a third party, but there are apparently no discussions on this front. Until Novel is motivated to buy, Nasrat doesn't want be a "motivated seller" and not get full value.
Other miscellaneous statements made at the Q&A session:
Nasrat's plan is to go out and buy a generic ANDA that will garner ELTP a lot more money than the current ANDA's (He said an ANDA that would bring in $50 million - as an example).
Nasrat has decided it's better to move towards marketing as many ART products at the same time versus launching one at a time and garnering revenue more slowly.
Nasrat indicated that ELTP is employing techniques/methodologies that cut the cost of developing ART products in half.
Nasrat stated that his plan for the $40 million LPC loan will take ELTP "farther, faster".
Nasrat noted that Carmargo Pharmaceutical Services is #1 in the field of drug development/testing of ART products
"Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid"... John Wayne (Sgt. Stryker - Sands of Iwo Jima)
