I do not know VKTX management, and have never spoken to them. But I do hold some shares, having bought some a couple + years ago and took a loss as I was frustrated as to the slow progress. Then I bought some shares in the past half years considering their THbeta mimetic was interesting at such a low market cap for VKTX at that time (and still). I sold some shares this week in the mid $5s, so my timing was not the best. I still hold some shares from buying at $2.75. I have a couple of suggestions for management, but I still like the VKTX investment value proposition. VKTX management has no reason to listen to me.
1. I would try to extract the most Ph2 information out of the first THbeta mimetic and sell that molecule for NASH and all fatty liver diseases. Get all tox work done and get GMP lots of API done and repeated for the NDA. My guess is that they will need to do a further Ph2 in NASH patients to clarify dose and Ph 3 efforts for a partner. The MDGL news only gets the juices flowing in other biopharma to get their rapid development hands on the compound and the program..
2. Keep the second Thbeta mimetic and develop it as fast as possible for ALD.
3. For the SARM program, figure out what the best value extraction monetization effort should be done. Is it to prepare for Ph3 and sell? Is there a plan for FDA discussion in absence of partner? VKTX should get all CMC and process work nailed down. (I have no clue on any batch sizes to date, place of work being contracted, in house process chemistry expertise, and other related items).
Has VKTX management ever publicly stated what the company exit plan may be? Depending on exit plan, I would say that VKTX remains a strong buy. We should have transferred our REGN assets into VKTX in June 2017, or earlier. My bad decision still pisses me off. (I guess I succumb to altruism bias, see:
pnas.org
.).
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