The letter was not a net net negative.
The share price was susceptible for profit taking when you consider what was going on in the overall markets. If you have been around the markets for any length of time, which you are not shy about telling everyone, you would agree that when investors start raising cash in a rush, they can rotate to taking profits in stocks that have held up during the broader market decline. CVM had held up amazingly well -- until cash raising hit.
Market makers see the Limit GTC Buy orders. And if these orders get overwhelmed by selling, the market makers back off in times like these. For a few minutes or hours.
Stop loss orders may have contributed to the selling panic.
Anyone who has been in CVM over the past year have been happy up to a couple of days ago.
What do you sell if you want to mitigate your portfolio's market risk?
Do you sell a stock that has already gone down 20-25% from recent highs? OR do you sell an unprofitable biotech play that is still near its highs? (again --a couple of days ago)
Coupled with the "Sell now. Confirm info later" atmosphere and very reasonable risk that CVM field trial results may not come in as expected, you have quick decisions to sell that further overwhelm active buy orders to sop up the temporary over supply of sell orders.
JMO
Successful Trading is the art of minimizing long term risk and maximizing capital allocation.
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