Replies to post #33669 on Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc fka ARIA

[glass_half_full]

"mediocre" is a bit harsh.

Perhaps a more balanced assessment might be that HB:

(1) did what he is quite good at very well, such as recognizing Pona's significant potential and walking away from (what we have to assume to be) partnership offers that, while big in absolute terms, under-priced the compound; but

(2) stumbled when faced with new tasks for the first time, such as managing the reporting and disclosure of SAEs in the PACE trial, the resulting affects on the label, the media fall-out, and PR regarding the roll-out.



<outrageous counter-factual thought experiment>

Does that mean that ARIA would jump if HB announced his retirement?

IMO, we would get a jump, but not for that reason -- the jump would come from the much better chance of a take-over.

</off-the-wall tangent>

[rurik]

Dr. Berger has been able to recruit, inspire and retain an amazing collection of scientists in world class scientific research with world class outcomes - if that is 'mediocre", I'll have some more of that please.

He has earned the respect of the scientific community for that leadership. A few technical missteps notwithstanding, he has done an amazing overall job under difficult conditions such as an economic collapse. We, the shareholders, and the world at large are all much better off having him at the helm.

[iandy]

I believe it was the science that got us those returns. Harvey as a ceo (not as m.d.), has been mediocre at best

.

I think you have very little appreciation for the job Harvey has done with Ariad. He started with nothing and now they are a global pharmaceutical company.
There might be a few guys that could have done better but we don't know that. Second guessing everything is easy. Running the show is not. I might not like some of the stuff Harvey has done, but I think his awards are well deserved.