I am appalled by the CIST management decision to NOT inform its shareholders in a timely fashion about new inventions and research collaborations:
In an amended agreement with Duke University, originally written in 1998 and not available to shareholder until 2000, the following statement is made:
... any patent or patent application that, first, has inventors from both CISTRON and DUKE, and, second, relates to the FIELD, and, third, has claims protecting the use of a mutant form of IL-1b as an intranasal vaccine adjuvant, and, fourth, is based on an invention disclosed to DUKE in an Invention Disclosure Form which was assigned File # 1689 and which is incorporated in its entirety as Exhibit A of this AGREEMENT.
2/14/2000 SEC FILING.
Now, we know two years later, through my research, that this intranasal vaccine adjuvant is linked to a multi-million dollar HIV vaccine project at Duke University (see my last few posts to the CIST discussion board).
I believe this news, if shared with the investment public on a timely basis by CIST management, could have significantly raised the stock price back in 1998. I believe that by not providing the information to its shareholders and to the general public in a timely news release or SEC filing, CIST management robbed its shareholders of a significant increase in stock price and significantly reduced is chances of being acquired for a substantially higher price. At the very least, I believe that this lack of timely disclosure acted to discourage shareholders from buying additional shares prior the announcement of the proposed acquisition.
Further, I believe that as a Director of CIST, the head of Genome Securities would have been aware of this new invention, the DUKE agreement, and the Duke research. However, when Genome Securities created its web page ( emedtrade.com ) to help CIST find a buyer, there was no mention of this agreement in the research collaboration section of the web page. Furthermore, there was no mention of the DUKE UNIVERSITY royalty payments nor the significant milestone payments to be paid to DUKE UNIVERSITY ( Message 12905667 ).
I believe that CIST is not only worth substantially more than $1, but further believe that CIST shareholders have good cause to bring suit against CIST management for lack of timely disclosure of significant events.
I'm not saying that CIST management plotted to rob shareholders of significant gains in stock price. However, I believe, their decision to withhold news of significant events has had a depressing affect on the stock price and has resulted in a proposed acquisition that is significantly lower than CIST is and would be worth had these significant events been shared with the shareholders and the general public in a positive and timely manner.
JMHO |
