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Biotech / Medical : Pharmos (PARS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ariella who wrote (114)	11/7/1998 10:57:00 AM
From: Ariella	Read Replies (6) \| Respond to of 1386

OPEN INVITATION TO ALL SHAREHOLDERS Many people on the thread think that PARS is not responsive to its shareholders and/or that management doesn't feel accountable to us. I disagree because of my own experience with the managers. Be aware, for instance, that a couple of days ago I received an unsolicited call from Dr. Aviv, who told me he had just taken a half hour to read the PARS thread on SI. He was quite unhappy with the direction the thread had taken and wanted me to know that management does care about the value of its shareholders' stock. (After all, he owns over 1 million shares.) We talked for a while about various issues, including PR, and he gave a full, open ear to the discussion. Everybody on the threads should understand that management is in a natural period of adjustment. This year it went from a pure research house to a revenue- producing company. Its CFO is still relatively new to the company (on board only 11 months and his response to my occasional phone calls leads me to believe that, although he has a fine background for the financial aspects of his job, this is his first time dealing with investors at a public company), its IR person is with the firm only since late last spring, its PR company is with PARS for less than 10 weeks. We have a team with good potential, but obviously that is not the same as having seasoned veterans in these spots and much of the unhappiness on the thread springs from this fact. As a shareholder in the company, I can understand the cause of unhappiness of thread members. As a former senior executive at a $70 million/year company and a consultant to small businesses (including start-up biotech) the past few years, I also understand the pressures and strains on the PARS staff in the face of shareholder demands to mature overnight without showing any typical growing pains. My financial interest in PARS stems solely from personal ownership of shares and loose beneficial control of another portion that together equal 1% of the shares outstanding. It is in my best interest to help PARS shares get a higher valuation (that's one reason I share so much of my own research on the thread) and toward that end it is also in my best interests to help PARS management in any way possible to understand what motivates shareholders when buying stocks. We became part of their team when we invested in their company. They are also part of our team and implicitly are expected to safeguard our investment and increase its value. How many of you realize that the $90K in revenues logged during the third-quarter would have been $180K if we had been able to show the actual unit sales instead of them being hidden under the drawdown from inventory? Compare -- Nov. 3rd Press release:"Third-quarter product shipments reflected reorders from wholesalers and distributors subsequent to the June 1998 launch of Lotemax and Alrex and did not reflect actual retail sales of the products." SEC 10-Q available the day after press release: "Third quarter sales revenue reflects reorders from product wholesalers and distributors subsequent to the filling of initial orders during the second quarter, and represented about half of actual Lotemax and Alrex sales during the quarter." There was no reason to hide this information in the 10-Q. Management needs to understand the difference between hyping the stock and presenting accurate information in sufficient quantity that will attract shareholders. That is how PARS stock will advance in price. A group letter to management seems in order. I offer my services to thread members to draft such a letter that each person can then copy and forward to management under their own signature. If we speak as a group, we have a better chance of being heard. If you are interested in participating in such an effort, please send me a message, including the number of shares you "speak" for. I will keep this information completely private, but post a group total. Lurkers who read SI can send me the same information at my web-based e-mail address: ariellaonsi@hotmail.com I do this in the belief that most people on the thread do not want to see the stock remain in its current trading range indefinitely. I also believe that management wants to do the best job it can.People, let's talk to each other and work this out. -Ariella