SurModics Inc (SRDX)

[DewDiligence]

>MRK went to the extent of terminating the relationship with SRDX rather than “letting it sit idle”.<

I thought the question from the CC analyst who asked why MRK didn’t let the collaboration “go idle” was clueless. The contract terms of MRK’s license (and virtually every similar license in the biotech industry) require “best efforts” by the licensee in developing the product candidate; in other words, going idle would results in forfeiture of the license.

>A second issue relates to continuation of the I-vation clinical trials... SRDX might need to pick up these costs now that MRK has left the scene.<

There are only two patients enrolled, so the costs ought to be minimal.

All told, I thought this was a disingenuous CC by SRDX insofar as the executives never acknowledged the plain truth: that the back-of-the-eye market has dramatically changed on account of Avastin and, consequently, the InnoRx platform no longer warrants funding. Regards, Dew