Biotech Values

[acgood]

I wold be pretty surprised if SNTA made a substantial effort to use Ganetespib as a single agent in future trials.

That is exactly what they are doing though. The company is sponsoring single agent trials in both ALK lung and HER2/TN breast cancer - they definitely believe hsp90 inhibition is viable in biomarker defined populations.

My instincts tell me this is an active drug, but in my view it belongs in the hands of a big pharma. Whether any big pharma will agree with me or not is the basic investment decision here in my view.

Agree, this is a drug screaming for a buyout. Even a huge Asian partnership will not fund the trials that need to be run. Based on them not taking a regional deal to this point, I think the odds of a buyout increase, perhaps after docetaxel data at ESMO and potential ALK data at NCI-AACR-EORTC in the fall. This corresponds to about when they will be out of cash too. CFO answered a question on the call basically by saying "if we have a phase 3 ready unencumbered oncology asset, we'll have plenty of options"