Have they not seen how this backfires on so many companies? I fully agree with you, the new price won't hold, shorts will drive it back down to under $1 and common shareholders will see the value of their shares cut by whatever the reverse split ratio was. They need to make progress on testing to drive up the price and force shorts to cover.
Or even better, why don't the officers and directors start buying shares to push up the price? Unfortunately I know the answer.