I believe they have other options but the question is will they pursue them?
The first thing is the BOD needs to grow a pair of cajones and oust Nic and a few others. Nic said in the 10-Q "We will continue to manage our operations to minimize our cash outflows to extend cash runway." I assume he means cutting out the lavish trips to conferences and shows but they can do a lot more in that regard. Salary cuts and layoffs should be on the table.
There are a number of employees who do not appear to be pulling their weight, Steffen Helmling and Dawn Eringis among them. What is the point of having a "Vice President of Business Development" if you have no business to develop? What partnerships has he developed? They supposedly hired him because "During his tenure at Noxxon Pharma, Dr. Helmling developed and managed drug discovery partnerships with pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Roche, and Eli Lilly." Where are Poly's partnerships?
Likewise with a "Vice President of Commercialization and Scientific Affairs". Honestly, there are a number of unnecessary positions dragging down the company. All salaries should be renegotiated by the BOD, using the same basis they did when they gave out the raises last year. The Compensation Committee said that the new salaries were based on analysis of what is being paid at other companies of similar market cap. Obviously, that figure has dropped precipitously.
However, Nic should be the prime target. His leadership has been poor, at best. The BOD should demand he forgo salary for at least a year or resign and get out of the way, preferably the latter. They should hire someone with real business experience to run the company, not someone with pie-eyed dreams of "becoming the next Amgen".
They have options to pursue licensing agreements and co-development partnerships if they would be a bit more realistic in their goals but it appears they have stubbornly clung to the ideas that they can do it all in-house or can retain U.S. rights and only sell off rights to other areas of the world. In their present financial condition, I believe those are not options.
AI
