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Biotech / Medical : Paracelsian Inc (PRLN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hank who wrote (3729)	7/15/1998 11:05:00 PM
From: Jonathan Schonsheck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4342

Dear Threaders, My reflections on the really great news, and the (non)reaction of the Market. Paracelsian is both a "new" company and an "old" company. Paracelsian is a new company in that the Biomar takeover happened only six months ago. In counselling patience during the last half year, I focused on Paracelsian the New. (And I concur wholeheartedly with the many people on the Thread who have lauded the achievements of the new Officers and Directors.) Alas, Paracelsian is an "old" company too, a company with a great deal of "baggage." (The Latin here is telling: "impedimentia." That which impedes progress . . ..) The best place to begin is at beta.nasdaq.com; click on "Charting," and call up the 60 month chart, and then the 36 month chart. After sleeping in the $1 - 2 range for month after month, the stock takes off early in 1995, reaching a high of nearly $8 in October - November of that year. Two months later, the stock has dropped like a stone, down to $1. There has been considerable speculation about this rise and fall; I have no first-hand information. But I do make this observation: anyone who bought on the way up, and held on hoping for a turn-around, got burned. Third-degree, and extensive. It will be difficult to persuade these people that Paracelsian the Old has been supplanted by Paracelsian the New. Consider now the period from that low of $1 in January of 1996, through the high of over $4 in May 1996, to the drop under $1 in April 1997. A number of us have strong beliefs about this trajectory. We now know that there were serious conflicts among the officers and directors. And it is a matter of public record that John Babish was selling off a huge position in the company, even while making a presentation at the Smith Barney Health Care Conference - a volume of selling from which the stock could not recover. And we have the press releases of the company (Paracelsian the Old) that the FDA "blocked" the launch of AndroVir (and AndroCar). Whether sabotoge or incompetence, the lead products were never launched. Once again, anyone who bought the stock on the way up, and held on hoping for a turn-around (the product launch), got scorched. Why, precisely, did they get incinerated? Well, the company announced promising preliminary results, and trumpeted potential, potential, potential. People got torched by relying upon the alleged potential, and the promises of management. Promises that were not kept. So now we have Paracelisan the New. And we have had a number of announcements: potential, and promises. Now I am wholly persuaded that the Officers and Directors of Paracelisan the New do indeed have the expertise, intention and integrity to realize - to both understand, and to make manifest - the value of the company. And sometimes I want to grab Mr. Market by the throat, and shake him, and tell him so. (But when I get too smug, I remind myself that I was persuaded that Paracelsian the Old would actually launch AndroVir . . ..) We have an impediment: a lack of credibility. We have to regain our credibility. And the only way to regain it is to be credible - to realize potential, and to keep promises. As that happens, I believe that Mr. Market will begin to accurately reflect the value of Paracelsian the New. I believe that the Company is doing all the right things. Nevertheless, I can understand how others might not share my beliefs. Yet. Jonathan