Ann: Mesoblast Update on COVID-19 ARDS Trial, page-380

I haven't posted on here much, but wanted to chime in on today's result. I sold my position this morning, and I must say this has been one of the biggest wake up calls I have had for a long time. I sold at a small loss.

I was certainly deluded & naïve in my thinking that this was a surefire way to a tidy profit. The fact we had 'so many things on the go' made me relaxed and complacent, I'd seen my holding well in the green, back to break even, then back to the green, multiple times in 6 months. When I initially invested, I was excited about all of the upcoming results & trials, and even after the CRL I felt there was a lot of promise in the short term as these things came to a conclusion. Novartis coming on board was the icing on the complacency-cake, I didn't even think twice that our COVID result must have shown enough efficacy to end in a positive. Why else would a large company give us such a strong backing?

Reading the announcement this morning, every second sentence sounded like an explanation for the bad result - treatments have improved since the onset of COVID, not all of the data has been analysed, we will continue with the existing patients etc. The termination clause regarding Novartis was something I never expected to read in a company announcement like that, on a Friday, after a 2-day trading halt, 2 weeks since they came on board. Brutal.

I am going to take some time to step back from the markets and analyse my psyche when making investment decisions. Multiple times I was up 40%-50%, why didn't I sell? Multiple times I was only down 5%, why didn't I sell? What is my strategy? Why did I buy the shares in the first place? How was I influenced & how can I filter these influences objectively?

My portfolio of shares is not rock solid, and another share (A2M) is also in a trading halt pending (what feels like) a brutal guidance downgrade. If my stocks aren't performing any better than my bank account where interest rates are basically zero, I'm in need of a reset & a review of my strategy.

Bit of a diary entry here so I apologise, I feel for all of the holders today and especially those (like me) who locked in the loss this morning. It was either that or 'wait' for a 'possible' positive result to come, and the last 3 results have shown that to be a gamble in the short term. Good luck to everyone today & into the future, stay positive and take some time to get away from the computer, spend time with your loved ones, and reset. I know that's what I'll be doing, all the best into the New Year.