More on the Zamora move... I just wrote a lengthy post explaining what I think is going on, and the site lost it. Sigh. So I will summarize:
I read the 8K. My take is they wanted to cut ties with Zamora for two reasons: (1) They don't like him, and he contributes nothing, and (2) They want to get out of the offshore businesses, and are planning on turning those operations over to Zamora. Zamora effectively becomes a wholesale customer, and VB agrees to supply him with product for 5 years. What he does with it is his business. The only stipulation is that any offshore businesses he starts or associates with are legal.
Sadly, Zamora retains his stock (now there's a lawsuit for some enterprising attorney to pursue...). BUT, all of the associated voting rights are turned over to the CEO and Chairman to exercise as they see fit. So Jack has no power and no direct connection to the company other than as a wholesale customer.
It's fairly clear that the company wants to be viewed strictly as a domestic biotech startup, working with the FDA rather than around it. This is necessary to be viewed favorably by institutional investors and others interested in biotech IPOs. My sense is that this arrangement with Zamora kills two birds with one stone -- i.e., it gets him out of their way, removes him from the picture for purposes of selling the IPO, and it cuts their direct public ties to offshore operations without defaulting on some well-established relationships, which can still provide some indirect revenue.
Finally, I would just add that the real value from those offshore relationships probably isn't the revenue. It's the safety data, of which there is quite a bit. FDA apps require documentation of all known human studies. And VB has a lot of that already. And I suspect that those data are making the Phase I/II FDA studies possible. That is, they have a lot of information to show that they won't be killing anyone with experimental treatments. I think they hired Mosessian last year to make the case to the FDA that these offshore trials were legit. And she apparently succeeded. So with that mission accomplished, I think they would very much like to move away from direct association with offshore entities, focusing their efforts on the domestic trials. The offshore stuff is now Zamora's baby. VB can simply quietly supply product to him, and book the revenue.
So that's my take. Could be off base. As always, it's educated speculation.
