All,
i'm certainly not a happy camper about the dismal Christmas results. we went from $.40 mid October to over $.60 by mid November. Given that crazy run up we could expect some type of correction. What couldn't have been predicted was the tsunami that came with Omicron, Global supply chain issues, inflation worries and the nail in the coffin: Federal reserve intervention. And because IMU Is now in the S&P ASX 200 index they ride on the top of the overall market trend. This global market downturn -- especially in growth/tech stocks -- Chuck what would have been a healthy retrace into the $.50 range down to where we are now. Of course it didn't help that IMU was late on some key clinical milestones(PD1-Vaxx updates, Celularity, etc.) and with PH selling his shares. but this is where the ship has landed.
The global economy is walking on thin ice at the moment. Markets and investors are jittery, nervous. Really nervous. The market may spiral down in flames or make A slow gradual correction before finding its proper footing. The answers to these questions are beyond my pay grade. All I can do is take comfort in the fact that I own shares in an amazing company. A company whose future ultimately won't depend on what type of market recovery takes place. Or how long it takes. Fortunately (or unfortunately) cancer doesn't give a damn about the Dow Jones average or the latest federal reserve monetary policy. Today cancer means prolong suffering with 1 foot in the grave. We own shares in a company that holds several key to breakthrough cancer therapies. Therapies that could relieve suffering and save countless lives.
Here's how I look at it:
even as we speak there are people who were on their deathbeds, who are still walking, breathing and spending precious time with their love ones -- only because of anti-cancer vaccines developed by IMU. In 2021 IMU was able to demonstrate that it had developed vaccines that produce powerful cancer killing monoclonal antibodies --manufactured from the patient's own body. They proved the simple idea of turning a patient's own body into a drug producing factory. making organic monoclonal antibodies with virtually no side effects, outside of the occasional injection site rash. And because those antibodies were in fact polyclone, IMU was able to create a "drug" more efficacious, more durable and at a fraction of the cost of their synthetic cousins.
this was the bed I signed up for: that a properly designed vaccine could elicit a potent and durable antibody response targeting tumors. That was a proposition. And the most crucial question – – does it work? – – Has been answered convincingly. Yes. That's the reason IMU was able to grow a tiny (with only full-time staff of nine people) Biotech – – with no revenues – – into our powerhouse with a market cap of over $3 billion. And don't forget, the B cell vaccines are a part of a platform that is able to produce antibodies for virtually any validated cancer target – – at Will. Punching a few variables into a computer program and out spit a novel vaccine for a new cancer target.
At this point, for the B sell vaccines, there's virtually no R&D involved going forward – – only clinical trials. There already exists a huge database of validated cancer targets to choose from. No need to figure out promising solutions to expensive trial and error. I am you has the luxury of being able to sit down, and at their leisure, pick the next target of opportunity. And because of the extremely low OPEX/CAPEX most of their eventual royalty revenue will become free cash flow available for dividends. This is what's on the table for all those holding IMU shares. this is an amazing accomplishment that can be easily overlooked while we're feeling down about the current share price.
The icing on the cake:
As I said, I only signed up for the Bissell platform. And then – – seemingly out of nowhere – – we acquire one of the most amazing assets in the cancer space: the CF33 oncolytic virus. A virus that selectively six out and destroys cancerous cells, leaving healthy tissues untouched. None of us could have predicted that IMU – – out of all the pharmas and biotech's in the world – – would be able to land the exclusive rights to this oncoylytic virus. OK, it's still early days for CF 33. We lost 18 months of clinical development because of Covid. But we finally have the first CF33 offshoot – – CheckVacc – – in the clinic and into patients. while the pre-clinical results were nothing short of spectacular, the proof will be in how well it performs and patience. Fortunately we won't have too long to find out. The first CheckVacc/CF33 patient cohort should be completing their dose escalation soon. We should (knock on wood) get the first clinical glimpse within A few months. Needless to say, if the results are positive, it won't matter what the financial market conditions are at the time.
Wait there's more:
It wasn't enough to have acquired a (literally) killer uncle lytic virus that has been (pre-clinically) proven to take out all 60 national cancer institute (NCI) validated cancer cell lines.. The letter NCI Dash 60 is the gold standard for cancer researchers. It's considered a smashing success if a compound can take out 3–5 cell lines. Not resting on your laurels the City of Hope came up with a variation of CF 33 – – ONCARLYTICS – – that can be combined with powerful Cart drugs. currently cart drugs only work on blood cancers in offer amazing curates for them. If oncarlytic enables car drugs to work on solid tumors there's no way to overstate how important a breakthrough this would represent. A CART/OnCARlytics combination therapy would be able to offer cure for solid tumors in the +70% range. Imagine people with pancreatic cancer or glioblastoma (currently a death sentence) able to live with a good quality of life at a reasonable hope being cured. Without the nightmare and suffering due to chemo or radiation treatments.
So for me it's clear. I couldn't imagine trading my IMU stock for any other. IMU's terms of success – – when the SP was $.60 and where it is now – – has remained the same. no more or no less. It's only a question of: does this shit really work? If it does work then today's disappointment will be part of the story to tell you were admiring friends over beers; about how you almost gave into your fears and sold all your IMU shares, but you had this feeling...
And make no mistake, the US market got crushed again on Friday, so we can expect the Ozzie's to run for the hills when the ASX opens on Monday. Winter is coming, folks. There's more pain on the horizon. Hopefully no one in our group has invested money they can't afford to lose. Bearing this in mind the best thing to do is to put your IMU (and any other shares) in the bottom drawer and unplug for a while. In a few months time, check back in. In the meantime, if anything materially meaningful happens I'll certainly keep you guys up-to-date via email. I plan to stay in the coal mine until the dust settles. Remember: don't be distracted, keep your eyes focused on the science. As painful as it may seem today, everything else is just noise.
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