Lot of validity in your scenerios but above a 10% shareholder premium is rare.
The reason i cringe a little at talking about buyout is the fact that PHAR does not hold a patent on Aquaprin or related products. All are "patent pending", they are just continually renewed,not being allowed to expire. None of the patent pendings are for "full intellectual rights". Very risky due to all the ingrediants are generic in nature available to anyone.
Howards claim on patent is for the formulation process to get asprin to fully dissolve and faster absorbtion into body. The stomach irritation claim is the same as Alkaseltzer has. We are dreaming if we think that there are not enough chemist out in the industry to determine how to replicate results... Notice i said replicate results,, not duplicate. Without full intellectual rights adding a pinch of salt would make it different thereby resulting in a stand alone product.
Instapril delivery system would be different to copycat, but it in PHAR scheme of things is not a revenue draw...
I say these things because not only is the business plan no matter how its spun by the board a failure, and MGt has not shown the skill to right the ship. Bad thing is the flagship product that might give you some better negotiating power in the event of a buyout is not patented and patent pending is not for full intellectual rights. These big PHARMA or any established drugmakers know this and will not negotiate as if this is patent protected and exclusive. Thats the problem with giving out loads of samples without full protection, too easy to replicate .
IMO the only way PHAR survives and shareholders get to share in that survival is for HOWARD to give up majority interest to skilled investor/investors and them put a team in place to get this to market. Howard can and should play a huge part, but not in the role he is in. Has 100% left shareholders in the dark because he is operating in the dark with no kind of backup up plan.. Just wait and see and hold out collection plate.
You would think thats what he would want for his legacy on this product. Letting go of majority to more experienced proffessionals and deeper pockets will still give him a percentage of something rather than 100% of failure if funding fails.
AI
