Replies to post #69578 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

>ARIA – ARIA is under $100 million market cap and has Deforolimus (oral mTOR inhibitor, which is a proven target) in Phase III trials in partnership with Merck. So, there's a lot of upside in this one but a ton of risk as well since Deforolimus is their only late stage drug. Also, the Phase II trial for Deforolimus had no control arm and that always concerns me.<

There are several “olimus” drugs on the market. Why do we need another?

[DewDiligence]

ARIA – The resignation of the four independent directors sends a strong signal that you should stay away from this company, at least for now.

Let’s recap: the four resigning directors are as follows (bold-faced text has been copied verbatim from the SEC filing):

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1. The senior officer of a sizeable publicly traded biopharmaceutical company and former vice chairman of the Board who has served ARIAD since its inception [Sandford Smith, the head of Genzyme’s international division].

2. A long-serving director who was a nationally respected member of ARIAD’s scientific advisory board [Burton Sobel, M.D., Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of Vermont].

3. The CEO of a publicly-traded biotech company [Michael Kishbauch, CEO of ACHN, a company that I happen to follow].

4. The former head of technology transfer of a major pharmaceutical company [Elizabeth Wyatt, former VP of Corporate Licensing at Merck, where she spent more than 20 years in top management].

In the SEC filing, these four ex-directors of ARIA go on to say:

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In our many decades of public company experience, we have never before witnessed the egregious misbehavior in which you have engaged during recent weeks. We cannot continue to serve on ARIAD’s Board under these circumstances.
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It doesn’t get any clearer than this! Don’t invest in ARIA—or any company run by Harvey Berger.