If they license it to a company that is committed to moving it forward then there are potential inflection points that could help increase shareholder value.
Considering where it was at and the data seemed promising I would have taken say mid-teens royalty (and nothing up front) with the partner paying all development costs. Maybe the market wouldn't have liked it then but if it would have been licensed out a year+ ago the company could be talking about near term Phase 2B data.