Excellent comments, Mike. One thing that really bothers me is the disrespect that some of the shorts show to Dr. Hirt, the ENT Journal, and the editorial board of ENT Journal. The shorts stoop so low that they don't care who they insult in their attempt to manipulate the emotions of investors that are holding this stock. They lie about anything and everything, and insult anyone that they think stands in their way of a profit on their short position. I don't think that their comments affect the stock, but it is testament to the poor ethics of the people we are dealing with here. To them, lies, insults, and money are more important than integrity.
"gumm_quest" on Yahoo posted the following paragragh from the article in ENT Journal. Your comments about the preventative clinical prompted me to copy this here. If you read the section carefully, you will find at least three sentences that indicate Zicam may prevent the common cold. I emphasized those areas in bold print.
"Although zinc nasal gel's precise mechanism of action has yet to be elucidated, data suggest that ionic zinc has a direct effect on the ability of rhinovirus to infect and/or reinfect the nasal epithelium. Zinc ions form complexes with rhinovirus coat proteins. This interaction causes an irreversible alteration in the coat proteins and interferes with the assembly mechanism of the virus particles. In addition, Novick et al reported that ionized zinc can directly inhibit the rhinovirus' ability to attach to, enter, and infect human nasal cells. The crystalographically modeled surface features of human rhinovirus-14 provide binding sites for approximately 360 zinc ions. The binding of ionic zinc is stabilized by histidine, methionine, tyrosine, and carboxyl/carboxylate groups that line the rhinovirus-14 surface canyons. It has been proposed that this interaction blocks the rhinovirus' ability to dock with the intercellular adhesion molecule binding sites."
I'll be the first to admit that the amount of publicity and hype that should accompany proof that Zicam prevents the common cold may send GUMM to an unreasonable level in the short term. If the stock goes up enough and stays there even one to two days, shorts that don't have enough money to maintain their position will be forced to cover no matter where the price is. Given the high short interest in this stock, a short squeeze of massive proportions could result. Any short that wants to discount these comments as hype, go ahead and hold your position and take your chances. There's no doubt in my mind that Zicam prevents the common cold and it's only a matter of time before the clinical study is released. If you think that I'm full of it, hold your short position and see what happens. It's no sweat off my back. |
