If Merck were truly planning to purchase NWBO, I believe that they'd be helping to build NWBO to a level in which NWBO would at least consider having Merck co-sponsor a trial with them, and take a small position in the company at a price to be determined at some milestone point in the trial, or if not, at some price that's potentially dramatically higher than it currently is today, or at the time they agree to run the trial.
In the future, if Merck were looking to buy NWBO at say $40 a share, they'd actually work behind the scenes to get NWBO over $20. That's the least their shareholders would want to see before such an acquisition. No one offers dramatically over twice the current price regardless of what the company they're acquiring has.
It may be too early for such actions, they're much more likely after NWBO has at least the UK approval, if not more than that. I would frankly be surprised to learn that the company is sponsoring new trials. I want to be clear, I'm not saying that new trials may not be started, but at this time I don't believe the company will be paying all, or part, of what's needed to run the trial. The trials will certainly have their permission, they may even be permitting the use of the EDEN unit to make the vaccine, but I don't believe they'll be listed as the sponsor. All this will change once they have an approval, stock price is dramatically higher, and they actually are reporting sales. Perhaps this is possible by the third quarter of the year.
Gary
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