Umibe5690, Your position is valid and more than reasonable but it is not without its issues.
it suggests:
(1) Duffy didn't perform his own due diligence before leaving his position at Merck. I find that hard to fathom. Duffy was a team member responsible for the Merck's most profitable product-- the cancer drug Keytruda. He was near the top of his career at a premier most respected company in one of the most profitable industry sectors. He could have used his long and well developed coat tails from his experiences commercializing Keytruda to go anywhere and do pretty much whatever he wanted. He chose to leave all of that for NWBO. I don't believe Dr. Duffy would leave his catbird seat at Merck without validating the efficacy of DCVax-L and, furthermore, the plan to commercialize it as well as its estimated profitability. IMHO, it is just inconceivable that Dr. Duffy would sacrifice so much without an almost guarantee to significantly enhanced wealth...which would be based entirely on the success of DCVax-L. When Duffy accepted his position at NWBO, He knew everything there was to know about DCVax-L (everything LP/Management knew). He was well pleased with that information.
(2) Given what Dr. Duffy gave up in leaving Merck, he would have acquired golden handcuffs (in the form of a sh!t load of stock options) from NWBO as part of his compensation package, whether he had them at Merck or not. It is inconceivable that Duffy would not get Stock options, given what he brings to the NWBO table. However, to my knowledge NWBO has never submitted required filings of stock option given to Duffy (correct me if I am wrong, here). Isn't NWBO 'required' to make those filings? I can't think of any plausible reason why that info would not have been included in SEC filings as Duffy came on board at the beginning of September 2019.
So he must have left Merck without negotiating golden handcuffs/stock options from NWBO. This, IMHO is not a possibility as it is the ONLY reason-- i.e. high probability of untold riches-- one would sacrifice so much for NWBO, a company that, on paper, is nearly bankrupt.
(3) Your contention that Duffy may have left because of LP's "her way or the highway" attitude is possible but unlikely as almost anyone at Duffy's level of experience and accomplishment would tangle with the devil in hell for this level of financial benefit. Furthermore, this contention violates the very intent and purpose of Golden Handcuffs (which you believe Duffy received from NWBO). The idea that Dr. Duffy would walk away from untold riches because LP is "tough to deal with"...I just can't see it.
(4) The idea that (1) Duffy plays a key role in commercializing Mercks most profitable cancer drug (keytruda) and (2) leaves to work for a company that is developing competing products (L and Direct) that could one day render Keytruda worthless or a lot less profitable and (3) Merck 5/6/7 months later, knowing about the competitor's products, makes Duffy an offer he can't refuse, seems improbable to me. I could only see this happening if Merck believed Duffy was extremely valuable to the company. But if Merck believed Duffy was valuable enough to make him an offer he couldn't refuse, wouldn't they have made the offer before Duffy left? The fact that Merck did not prevent Duffy from leaving suggests that either Merck did not see Duffy as valuable enough or Merck did not understand Duffy's value until after he left. The latter, imho, is highly unlikely with a top-tier BP like Merck.
Also, your contention brings up the issue of loyalty. I don't know how valid this point is, but I question if Merck would make such an offer to duffy given his acceptance of a position from a competitor who could take out Merck's most profitable product of late.
DI's statement that Merck gave Duffy an offer he couldn't refuse sounds like a fake cover story to me.
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