if I owned the rights to the most amazing stent ever invented worth billions of dollars I wouldn't let it sit there doing nothing for 4 years with a company that has only one full time employee earning more than $100K who is not a scientist but an accountant.
"Deals can always be renegotiated. Maybe they have been trying to delay and agree to a lower payoff. Happens all the time."
Yep, I would be renegotiating the deal with a real company who could do something, providing one of those was actually interested. Apparently not.