"..."Considering the statements below by MSD, what reasoning (perhaps from direct/indirect interactions) would you attribute to Bristol-Myers (BMS) not being 'impressed' enough' to make a 'counter-offer' for Viralytics, considering the excellent ~50%+ 'Vervoy/CA21 combo-trial' data (ORR/BORR success-rates) which significantly exceeds the comparable Keytruda success and/or efficacy-rates.??"
5.3 Rationale for MSD’s acquisition of Viralytics
MSD Parent has been impressed with the results of clinical trials and research conducted by Viralytics to date and believes that, by leveraging MSD Parent's substantial resources and vast experience in researching and developing immunotherapies, MSD Parent will be able to build on the results Viralytics has achieved to date (in particular in relation to CAVATAK) with a view to delivering an innovative breakthrough therapy for the treatment of certain cancers.
After ~10 years holding VLA-shares, I'm really interested in trying to understand that 'angle' prior to voting, I think the 'scheme' is not necessarily 'reasonable', but is perhaps fair, considering the 'potential' outlay of resources (financial, human, process and time)...
Any insight/opinion would be greatly appreciated..."
Responses (summarised, out of respect to the source, considering I didn't ask whether I could 'publish' the response 'verbatim'):
>> Only BMS (directly) can provide insight on how they (BMS) view the VLA-technology and/or value-proposition, I'd have to approach BMS myself...
>> It really is not for anyone at VLA to offer any opinion, or to assume to know BMS's thought-processes regarding the 'combo' trials...
>> A process with VLA's investment-bank was engaged (at an unspecified time) in which key I/O players were invited to participate. As it was conducted in confidence, unfortunately it is not possible to relate any communications arising from that process...
So 'something' took place (maybe think 'cast-netting'), which is good to know, but realistically, how it plays out is going to be anyone's guess, trading patterns have been odd since the offer, but arbitrage-trading 'could' explain some of it (not ~30% of entire VLA share-base though), it''s been relatively quiet for few weeks now, positions 'locked n loaded' perhaps...
As I've made clear a few times, I'm still cautiously optimistic on a 'counter-offer' (at the last minute, like SRX), but am happy enough to walk away well 'in-front' in late-June when the 'gavel' comes down on the current bid...
ML
VLA Price at posting:
$1.73 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
