Mark,
I feel that IZP's share price reflects the growing pains of a young and budding company.
IZP's recent setback, while painful to most investors, is not totally unexpected. Dr. Salari set a very aggressive agenda (in 1996/97) that, in my opinion, was bound to fail.
Had IZP fulfilled Dr. Salari's time line, IZP would be trading at 10X the price it trades for today. My only hope is that Dr. Salari hasn't overstated the potential value of IZP's drugs.
Dr. Salari has done a good job selling the company. Newsletters like Neil Maedel's Mini-Cap (formerly The ProTrader) and Union Security bought the company line and sold it to investors.
Neil Maedel has changes his recommendation from a buy to a hold. This has probably had a negative effect on the the stock.
This quote comes from "The Weekly Round-up" (Union Securities publication), Jan 16, 1998.
"At this time, we believe that the shares have been somewhat oversold but that a significant change in investor sentiment leading to a reversal of the share price will not happen until the market sees some progress in the Company's development activities. This will take the form of either the conclusion of a licensing deal with a major pharmaceutical company or the commencement of phase I clinical trials for IPL 576. As IPL 576 is not due to enter clinical trials until Q4 of this year, we would expect a licensing deal to be the spark that ignites renewed interest in the Company. We would look for a licensing deal to be concluded before the end of the first half of 1998. Any later and the Company's dwindling cash position may weaken its bargaining power and make it vulnerable to an unsatisfactory deal. However, this would be mitigated by any cash injection that the Company may procure."
They concluded their article with the following statement.
"Given its novel technology and promising potential, we continue to rate the shares a speculative BUY for risk tolerant investors and would recommend accumulation at these levels in anticipation of a future licensing deal."
I understand that in January an individual / organization shorted 1,000,000 shares of IZP. One theory is that the organization looking to complete IZP's next financing, so IZP can qualify for a TSE listing, might be shorting the stock to get a better share price.
Do you remember The New England Journal of Medicine April 10/97 article Nuclear Factor-kB - A Pivotal Transcription Factor in Chronic Inflammatory Diseases by Peter J. Barnes and Michael Karin?
The April 10 / 97 article concludes.
"It may be unwise to block the activation of NF-kB for prolonged periods, because the factor plays such a critical part in the immune response and other defensive responses. The targeted disruption (or knockout) of the p65 component of NF-kb is lethal because of the associated developmental abnormalities, whereas the lack of the p50 component results in immune deficiencies and increased susceptibility to infection. Since NF-kB often works in concert with other transcription factors, it may be possible to achieve a more selective blockade in particular types of cell or blockade of a restricted set of genes by developing compounds that inhibit the synergistic interactions of several transcription factors."
Have you read other articles that listed specific problems with the blockade of NF-kB? If you have, then could you please post the titles and author.
Peter J. Barnes has competed a new book which is currently under review.
nejm.org
Michael Karin is a scientific founder of Signal Pharmaceuticals. Signal Pharmaceuticals is currently looking for a lead compound to inhibit NF-kB.
electriciti.com
No flooding this year. In 1997 we experienced a record snowfall which resulted in the capsizing of many a canoe : >
Sean |
