GTC Biotherapeutics (fka GTCB)

[croumagnon]

"It will be a success or failure based on approval...there is no other way and to say it's a failure because it's come down to that is either naive or just irrational."

It all depends what you mean by success. Yes, approval would be success from a technological and patient point of view but that does not necessarilly translate into success from a shareholder point of view, especially given the fact that the future of GTCB may be swallowed by LFB if this proxy passes...

I have previously mentioned Imatron (IMAT) as an example of the above and it is worth repeating the story. IMAT had developped the e-beam driven fast CT scan and was using it (with FDA approval) to scan calcium scores in coronary arteries to determine coronary artery disease. However, at the time, the medical community and the insurance companies did not jump on the bandwagon and the company was having serious financial difficulties. GE stepped in and started loaning them money through GE capital with many strings attached and then managed to eventually takeover the company for no premium whatsoever. Soon after, GE and Siemens started promoting the fast CT scan as the best invention for diagnosing coronary artery disease and now it is an extremely successful technique that is routinely used by cardiologists. The sciences succeeded and so did GE and Siemens in this venture but the shareholders of IMAT got the shaft. If this proxy vote passes, I suspect that the LFB deal would be setting us up for the same sort of fate as what happened to the IMAT sharehoders...