You make a very good point about partnering.
Clearly, this is a case and point of a small drug development company not having the ability to turn it into a revenue machine. They simply phucked up bigtime - especially managing expectations.
If you look at ipilumamab which BMS bought from Medarex, IPI is going to ramp revenues big, and that's because BMS has hundreds(thousands) of drugs reps ACROSS THE GLOBE who have experience and can push this thing. There is NO WAY Medarex could have done that-NONE.
Berger should be paying careful attention to this. Because, despite his insistence (as well as academics insistence) that Ponatinib is better than all the TKIs, the fact of the matter is all the TKIs have huge distribution, and BIG TIME branding-name abilities. Also, in regard to DNDN, one of the main issues was that it was the ACADEMICS who were the main sellers of Provenge (because they had experience with the drug in the clinic and understand the MOA), whereas, generic doctors were less willing to give the drug to patients (be or, reimbursement issues or not). Berger and shareholders of ARIAD should really pay attention to this last point because I think Berger is really relying on what the academics in the field are telling him for his Ponatinib guidance....just my thoughts.
Either way, IMO, you don't really want to own a drug company ONCE it becomes a revenues story. They almost always disappoint - HGSI and DNDN and VRTX(don't know much about this one, but Dew mentioned it) for instance - especially after they have had mega runs which 'pulled forward' years of revenue expectations.