The key is will the board force Stoll/Coleman to do a deal at this juncture, or not. I may be in the distinct minority here, but I can't see how such destruction could occur to Cortex' image without a conf. call for weeks. Imagine if Churchil hid out in the underground, or Rudy hid in drag after 911. I've followed oodles of biotechs over the years and can't see or identify a single example. The issue of the letter getting lossed en-route to Irvine seems almost laughable. And how would the contents of letter change the contents of a conferance call?
If you ask a girl for a date on the phone, and she responds, "Yuch, you're ugly and I really hate you." Well, perhaps you might wait for her formal letter before you ask somebody else out, or not. Reading between the lines, it is clear the FDA said something to the effect: "We still have concerns despite your work... we have to protect young kids in good health...." or something to that efffect. Or maybe the person Stoll talked to on the 11'th didn't work for the FDA, but he did stay in a Holiday Inn.
At any rate, it is exactly in this setting the board... would seem to me... has a duty to examine the details of a. what happened, and b. what is the best way to move forward.
IMHO, it is time for a change at the top at Cortex. Pick a new CEO with biotech experiance--unlike Dr. Stoll--task him with turning the company around, to speak to LLY and other pharmas, working with Tran to advance what can be advanced as quickly as possible, work on better communication with shareholders. A good example of this would be Raj at Spectrum. Things have not been completely perfect since he took over, but he focuses on communicating with shareholders in a timely and professional manner. He may not respond to emails(actually he does sometimes), BUT when the FDA rules against his drug, he responds with facts and with a plan to move forward.
Perhaps the stage coach will arrive in Irvine before the month's end, detailing how the Psychiatric division felt that CX717 was an ugly fit for ADHD, and Dr. Stoll, or hopefully his successor, will update us on the path forward.
