Black Dog Appointment, page-7

While BPO claims in its ASX announcement of Nov 5 that the Black Dog HRT Validation Trial is to be "Independent", yesterday's revelation that Black Dog researcher Dr Michael Player is to become COO poses an issue.

It may be that Black Dog researchers are separated by "Chinese Walls" - ie lead researcher Prof Gordon Parker can run an HRT trial with absolutely no regard for the two-hatted role of colleague Player.

Parker may insist that he is independent and his trial is too.

Foolscap's point would seem to be that Black Dog needs to be independent...and be seen to be independent.

Foolscap claims to own BPO. It may now be time for Foolscap to divest.

While Player's role may compromise perception of BD's independence, another view is that - as an "insider" - Player's confident that outcome of Parker's trial will be positive.

Hence his preference for milestone-linked scrip remuneration.

Foolscap may sell. I may buy.