always look at the bright side, page-4

Take-over by GSK or another big pharma is a possibility that I have mentioned, and it does raise the question about being very careful who we get into bed with.

Sales by GSK are quite secretive, so we can only make an educated guess. Your thought is amongst several possibilities, including:

*pandemic re-balancing is not yet seen as urgent.
*Relenza sale contracts deliberately placed for next Q so GSK can hang on to those BTA royalties for more than another year. If Relenza needed more urgently, it could be lent to the buyer, and "returned" in the new Q.
*GSK selling rolling options for Relenza stored and insured by GSK for a fat royalty free fee. These fees can be disguised in the very confidential excess vaccine return arrangements.

Other than obvious commercial self interest, why might GSK want to put this pressure on Biota and BTA sp?

*Confirm GSK bully power over BTA (first demonstrated with $20M settlement) to force a GSK Lani deal on less favourable terms for Biota & DS.
*Actual GSK take-over offer in advance of a potential Lani deal with a GSK competitor.

Biota certainly would be considering GSK's nightmare, reducing it's reliance on a single big pharma. Under the circumstances, GSK might be just doing what a mega business does, and they will probably be successful.

Where does Biota go from here? Obviously we can continue and finance phase 3, waiting to see if GSK, Roche or others blink first. A great Lani deal or a competitive take-over attempt are what I see as the most likely outcomes.

In the meantime it is a rough ride for shareholders.