Hi Col
In response to your question:
“Why do you think after almost a decade of OPEN LABEL trials the company hasn’t secured a single DEP license deal?”
The simple answer is that I suspect Starpharma has not wanted to.
Licencing before release of the phase 2 results would seem premature, to me, and not in shareholders' best interests.
Also, I would have thought that the Big Pharma suitor (hopefully suitors) would wait for the complete analysis of the phase 2 trial/s as part of their due diligence. In terms of the take-over risk of sharing the data before then, I wonder if Starpharma could have got the BP, or BPs, they are sharing the (incomplete) data with to sign some sort of agreement not to make any move on them as a pre-condition of seeing this data? Sort of like a non-disclosure agreement. Any lawyers out there who could comment on this? It is not my area.
I had never considered (or interpreted) that Starpharma would be seeking a licence prior to the completion of the phase 2 trials (at least the monotherapy phases). I don't remember seeing anything written, or hearing anything said that 'they would have licensed the DEP drugs out before the phase 2 trials were finished' as you state. Perhaps,at some presentation, they said it was one possibility? In all their presentations I have seen or heard, they have consistently stated their aim is to licence the DEP Drugs after completion of phase 2. They then anticipate that the big pharma could seek initial approvals through an accelerated pathway (505b2).
It is quite unusual for a licence deal to be signed after just phase one in the biotech world, or part-way through a phase 2, unless the BP has been collaborating from the start. (The multi-drug agreement with AZD is an example of this). As you would know, it is very common to for licence deals to be signed after successful results are released for a phase 2 trial.
I have also long-suspected that Starpharma have had adeliberate strategy to release the (monotherapy) results of the three phase 2 trials (or, at least two of them) quite close to one another, to maximise the collective impact of the releases as 'proof of concept' of the DEP platform, to give them a stronger position to negotiate deals. Timing the release of top-line results so they are soon-after followed by presentations at conferences would also make sense, in terms of getting good media and industry exposure (ASCO would be nice). This has long been a hunch of mine. (It is my speculation: I have no statements from the company or any evidence to back this up) but it would explain why they have held off releasing the final data of the DEP Cabazitaxel trial, which I would have thought they could have released by now.
If my hunch turns out to be correct (this is speculation on my part), I suspect that we will see the top-line results of DEP Cabazitaxel and DEP Docetaxel monotherapy trial released soon - in 2 separate announcements (JF did promise the 3rd quarter), hopefully followed soon after by an announcement of some interim results from the DEP Irinotecan monotherapy trial (if enough data available. Fingers crossed). Hopefully, then, followed by some conference exposure, eg. ESMO (20-24 October).
Anyway, we shall soon see.
Cheers Col, and I wish you all the best with your investments
Also, GLTAH.
I will now have a rest from the forum for a while
GumnutBTW, did anyone else notice that Starpharma are presenting at the Share Cafe Hidden Gems session this friday?
(20min delay)