Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc fka ARIA

[glass_half_full]

ARIAD should just mothball the rest of their pipeline and concentrate on pona.

I would suggest the exact opposite.

Whatever HB may think about how SuperAwesomeTacular it would be to build the Son Of Amgen[1] in his garage and unleash it on the unsuspecting population of sleepy suburban Basel, the truth is that the real value machine that HB has created exists 100% outside the regulatory/marketing/distribution channel.

As much fun as it is to be big, those operations are well understood and BP (like it or not) has a competitive advantage there.

So rather than mothball the pipeline to commercialize Iclusig, they should sell off single indications to fund their pipeline.

Pona shows promise in GIST? Partner that specific indication.
Pona shows activity in sarcoma? Partner that with someone else.
Patient's got some kind of sarco-gist? Those two can fight it out.

Ariad will be in the lab, where their competitive advantage lies.

Note that I'm not saying HB should sell Pona, give up CML, or anything like that. But the idea of quitting what you do best to try to become a one-drug-sales-machine is not the best plan.

In fact, Ariad should keep Pona's CML indication and the indications of future drugs that have near-term stable cash flows. But if there's an indication that Ariad can't pursue without suffering major distractions or growing pains, then monetize it.

I know that HB won't partner any part of anything, so this discussion is pretty academic. That said, I think that we are leaving $$ on the table out of spite. Which is part of the price that we pay for having the founder run the company.



[1] You have to say this in a melodramatic B-movie voice with Dramatic Chipmunk soundtrack.