AGE didn't specify which program(s) they were reducing funding to, but the release made it sound like it could be across the board. I'm puzzling over why they might do this. I've noticed they have been avoiding cash raises for a long time now. They chose not to collect any cash before or during the AGE spinoff, and not to conduct any secondaries over the past 6 months. And they are living off existing cash and warrant exercises. You know what that sounds like to me? It sounds like the massive, just massive, informed ownership (47% Juvenescence, 12% insiders, 8% IBS Capital, 6% warrants just exercised) isn't letting anyone into this stock. And it also sounds to me like making Greg Bailey the Chairman of the Board is metamorphizing Mike West's research from a hodgepodge of projects to a laser-focused company. Here's what I've been imagining AGE is up to: (1) Rather than the expensive and lengthy process of developing VASC-1, BAT-1 and ITR-1547, AgeX will take on partners to do the heavy lifting. (2) AgeX will become highly proficient at building awesome, off-the-shelf, allogenic, rejection-free replacement cells (using Univercyte HyStem, PureStem and maybe even dose it with a little ITR-1547 for good measure) and could be a pick-and-shovel supplier for the industry, again letting other companies do the heavy lifting. (3) AgeX will continue to advance its GeneCards database as a service to the industry. And (4) Mike West will focus his time/energy/funds on grabbing the brass ring and developing effective genetic reprogramming of the metabolism of aging. This is ALL hypothetical and probably mostly wrong. But ultimately I think the market is looking for the progress (aka hype) that extolls exciting product candidates and precedes secondary offerings in this industry. But Juvenescence / Greg Bailey aren't playing that game, and are keeping this company very secret and share very tight. I mean, do we really think Juvenescence carefully selected AGE as its anchor holding, spending a sizable portion of its cash on it, that Mike West pared AgeX out of Biotime and hopped aboard, only to wind down the company 6 months later for lack of cash? Doesn't fit into my thinking. But boy, the market seems convinced, and the drop last week was a thing to behold. And with AgeX something of a black box these days, I suspect traders will toss AGE around like a rag doll for the foreseeable future.
