Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc fka ARIA

[DonShimoda]

Not sure where your getting your numbers from but just yesterday Harvey reiterated projected cash at FYE of around $46mm. Yes, they were looking for a partner before the MRK restructuring....but,imo, the new deal removed any pressure to partner 534 at this time. Plus, waiting until the registration trial is approved and pts are being enrolled will only increase the value to a potential partner.

As far as trials for the other indications go, I'd like to see them focus their resources on getting the AP534 trial up and running and starting the Phase 1 trial for AP113 as soon as possible. Depending on when the Rida NDA is ultimately filed, I believe they'll be in a much better position to assess their capital needs going forward once the final analysis on Rida is out later this year. At that point, they'll certainly have the option to partner 534 but hopefully the decision will be one driven by market opportunity and not purely funding need. Of course if the rida results come in as expected, the company will likely receive $65mm in milestones in 2011. At that point, I would expect the market cap would better reflect having 2 drugs in Phase 3 with one well on its way to approval.