You've ignored the point...NNVC owns the IP. I guess that's a matter of interpretation.
First, NNVC owns NOTHING of the shingles indication yet. Seymour tried to get Diwan to license it on reasonable terms, and for whatever reason, the deal simply hasn't gotten done yet. This frustrated Seymour but what was he going to do, Diwan holds all of the cards. Diwan's negotiating leverage only increases as he spends NNVC's money doing further shingles development and insists shingles be the lead indication for HerpeCide. It could just as easily have been genital herpes, and we would have saved the year we spent trying to get SUNY's model proven out.
Second, it is my impression that TheraCour still owns ALL of the IP. NNVC only licenses the IP, and only so long as they keep paying $25K a month for TheraCour's basic lab expenses. This is in addition to work done (which by contract we must pay TheraCour to do) plus 30% markups for R&D research and production expenses. Then, when revenue starts to roll in, NNVC gets a 15% royalty haircut on revenue for something they paid practically 100% to develop. With whatever is left NNVC gets to pay for expenses (regulatory development, R&D, production, SG&A, taxes, etc.) in addition to hiring staff to meet the added needs of turning a research company into a fully compliant drug company (manufacturer and seller) with legal, medical, complaint handling, regulatory departments.
And if the company goes bankrupt:
- The licenses fall back to TheraCour with no compensation for the $100 Mn that will have been spent.
- NNVC shareholders will have lost everything they invested.
And you only get screwed when you sell. It is possible that we were screwed when we bought/invested. (Ask Yidam about that, or just read his court filings.) |
