Then there was that $1 pop last Monday on no news that everyone seems to have forgotten. On 12/6 we closed at $8.85 - imagine that, right back where we were. The time stamp on the subsequently posted Changewave buy notice makes it look as though (with 20/20 hindsight) that may have been responsible for the increased interest and price, and sure had the feel of the UBS squeeze just prior to their secondary. And then there's been all that short covering the last couple of months as well. When taken as a whole, it looks like this new deal comes out of all that as well.
The worst part I suppose is the placement creating an air of disappointment and status quo. Some were hoping for a real uptrend in price, the momo crowd moved in and were looking as usual to find some good trades over a short period. Some of us were really hoping for imminent announcement of substantial medical advancement. The fact is that the status quo has become a rapidly moving dynamic.
Once you blow away the dust there are some important developments inches away and in process as we speak; this is not just a placement at the end of the dog and pony show season with a long dry spell in its wake. An article posted yesterday said the FDA announcement of approval for meat and milk from cloned animals was expected this week - well, today is the last of "this week." Then there are the adeno and plasmid INDs expected from Merck, the IND expansion on the 163L trial sites and indications, the decision on Prop 71, the new IND for GRNVAC1, preliminary data on the current 163L trials, whatever the new Congress can develop out of their "first 100 hours" plans, which of course is only a couple of weeks away now. With so much safety data already in, there may be a slight chance of some sort of accelerated approval pathway(s). Sad as it is, it looks like Tim Johnson's unfortunate circumstances were exploited by some yesterday; at least that looks to have been unwarranted. There's a lot more going on as well. Geron usually has something to present at Bio-Med; isn't that Feb. sometime? Then AACR around April, ASCO around June. Nothing presented at ASCO can have been presented elsewhere first, and with Geron planning to attend, that sure looks encouraging.
The warrants may or may not turn out to be a positive. In light of the SEC deciding to crack down on using pp/2ndary shares to cover, in will be interesting to see what new shenanigans will be developed to get around the rule. I wonder if that has anything to do with the "rest periods" in between opportunities for issuance.
AI
