Thanks for the excellent post, LocWolf. As it relates to bankruptcy, I did some checking as well, and was able to identify that a basic principal that applies with respect to intellectual property is that bankruptcy does not revive license agreements terminated prior to bankruptcy. With this in mind, allow me to elaborate just a bit.
In HDC's Jan 2017 letter of complaint to Neo, HDC signified that it had delayed the effectiveness of its Oct 2016 letter in which it had notified Neo of its intent to cancel all licenses. Why would Neo have had an interest in delaying the effectiveness, if it was being truthful in its earnings calls that a) it didn't use HDC property in the development of the test; and b) it had made a decision in Q4 2016 take the impairment charge on the HDC license agreement(yes, the impairment charge that it did not want to 'name' in its news release or in the Feb 2017 earnings call. You guessed it: if HDC were to terminate the licenses prior to bankruptcy, Neo would not have access to the technology post-bankruptcy.
Now let's take it a step further. In late 2016, Neo commercialized the liquid biopsy prostate test. Yet, it did so with little fanfare. This is a bit confusing, since Neo paid considerable money back in 2012 to gain access to HDC technology, and historic information pertaining to this test revealed that it would be a significant revenue driver. In fact, in the Oct 2016 Neo earnings call, it signified that the development of the liquid biopsy tests, including the prostate test, were one of the top ten growth and profitability drivers for the company. Of course, subsequent developments, in my mind, provide the answer as to why there was little fanfare. On top of all this, after Neo had outlined in its February earnings release that it had taken the impairment charge on the HDC license agreement, it signified in its May 9, 2017 10Q that it was continuing to develop its liquid biopsy prostate test. Very shortly thereafter, it issued a press release 'announcing' the commercialization of the test.
