Yes my speculation was that Malik hooked NWBO with NF and NWBO appointed Malik to the board as NF's informal proxy on the board.
As somebody speculated, it’s quite possible that Linda and NW were hooked-up by Malik. After all, he is a star bio-tech analyst in Europe and NW being a prominent healthcare investor are very likely to be familiar with each other. In that sense, yes, it’s possible that Malik might have arranged financing for Toucan/Cognate in 2012 for which he might have been paid. Which investment banking house on Wall Street does not write favorable research reports on companies that use them for financing?