Versartis, Inc. (VSAR)

[longx]

Problem is cash burn rate and how long can they keep the lights on.

Cash burn should no longer be an issue as they mentioned in Q3 Corporate Update that they had reduced 2/3 force force and eliminated majority of management position (see below)

I think they're in the middle of getting the company sold to private investment group for further development.

Keep in mind that Somavaratan missed its primary endpoint and failed to prove non-inferior to Pfizer’s Genotropin as patients with twice-monthly Somavaratan grew 9.44 centimeters per year against daily Genotropin’s 10.70 centimeters. Beside that Ascendis's TransCon Growth Hormone is injected once-weekly. There is a possibility of de-designing Somavaratan phase-3 clinical trial for the drug to be administered at a higher dose or more frequently (such as weekly like TransCon Growth rather than the current bi-month) for achieving the range of activity to demonstrate non-inferiority.

With this I decided to start with 50K shares this morning.

Corporate Update

- Completed reduction in work force of approximately two thirds and further cost-cutting measures underway to preserve cash
- Select members of management team retained to leverage clinical, regulatory, and commercial expertise in the evaluation of somavaratan and efforts to identify opportunities to diversify the Versartis pipeline
- Cowen engaged to assist in evaluating possible strategic transactions that could maximize the company's expertise and resources