I would bet heavily against it. Mid-July, the short interest in MNTA was down over 36% from the high in January of this year. It won't be too long before we can see what happened immediately after approval, but a short interest of 7% (the mid-July level) doesn't portend an unscrupulous takeover bid. The short interest would have to rise astoundingly to have enough effect to indicate the "manipulation" people are always talking about.
My own guess is that any modest increase in short positions (and I would call anything up to a doubling of the number of shares "modest") in late July would probably indicate little more than bets placed by those who have observed the post-approval doldrums that overcome so many biotech stocks. Of course, croumagnon would argue differently!
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