Attended the meeting this morning. Some random takeaways..
Management is open to partnering, but not excited about a buyout.
GIST will be a significant income stream in terms of number of patients but because it is so aggressive patients don't live long enough to stay on the medication very long. Brain mets treatable, are key. GIST likely the next registration.
Dr. Denner - he is in it for Iclusig. Iclusig is not the least toxic, but the percentage difference from other TKIs is not very significant. What is significant is that Iclusig is much more effective. Strategy is clearly to move Iclusig up to 2nd line and perhaps eventually front line. He was impressed that the pressure to reverse the FDA ruling came from oncologists. Denner is young and bright and personable..most importantly he is on the board as an investor.
10-b-5 plan adopted for key employees to make periodic purchases. Dr. B to buy 150,000 shares and he mentioned another officer who is buying 15,000.
Japan partnership is front burner now. They have multiple Japanese pharmas interested. Whether the deal will include other areas of Asia (perhaps Korea, Taiwan... but definitely not China)will depend on how large a pharma they eventually partner with. It will definitely include a sizable up-front payment. The Japanese CML market is second in size only to the US. Novartis bad behavior in Japan was front page news in Tokyo and should help us with this partnership. No timetable, but I have to guess it is not far off.
Ariad is definitely aware of the developments in immune oncology. They feel they may have a significant role to play in this field. Watch for news from Bellicum (their switch for CAR-T cells employs Ariad drug) in which Ariad has a 10% interest.
Value driver. The new label approval is expected shortly in Europe and this will allow Ariad to finalize pricing etc. This will accelerate European income stream.
No one raised the issue of possible illegal activity by GS, NVS et al. (Damn)
All the officers looked a little worn down from the roller coaster of the last year. Clearly everyone has been working long hours to get Ariad back on track.
