MediciNova, Inc. (MNOV)

[Minding]

Some thoughts from a friend of mine back in January:

MNOV manages to keep making some minor announcements that support the stock. They are not exciting but are representative of the slow and steady process of building a company. What may not be commonly known by many shareholders is that MNOV has a listing also in Japan and often the stock is more active there. It can be found on the Bloomberg website. I have been trying to figure out what future catalysts maybe responsible for the positive activity in the stock. With biotech companies that are in various trial stages it is nothing more than an educated guessing game. If we take a look at the MNOV website and their pipeline MNOV has 5 phase 2 trials in progress. http://medicinova.com/clinical-development/development-pipeline/ . Once the tests are underway it is impossible to know how they maybe proceeding. For example I had a friend in a phase 2 trial. He had a good response but the entire sample did not. You cannot assume that because one is doing well all are.

The NIH has funded a progressive multiple sclerosis trial being run at the Cleveland Clinic. It is impressive that it has been funded by the NIH. If the results come back positive this could set the stock flying. The completion date however is not until 3/17 3 months after the final data collection date. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01982942?intr=ibudilast&rank=6 I suggest reading the history of another trial by MNOV for M.S. http://medicinova.com/clinical-development/core/mn-166/progressive-multiple-sclerosis/ The company also has 3 drug dependency phase 2 trials in various stages of development. They are attempting to eliminate addiction with another drug. Information is on their website. For companies like this a large catalyst would be excellent results in a phase 2 or 3 trial. MNOV is small and the fact that it currently 5 programs in phase 2 trials is impressive. Another for NASH will begin shortly.


Kind regards,
Minding