bit v blt, page-3

Goblin,

No doubt there are a very large number of players looking for pieces to this and other medical puzzles. There have been for a long time. This risk existed before BIT, during all BIT trials, and will continue to exist after commercialisation. Its everpresent for all biotechs, always, and that is as it should be.

The thing is there is no perfect cure. Not all drugs work on all patients. Most have undesirable side effects. Most are costly. Resistance frequently develops over time. Viruses mutate and new strains propagate into the community. I've lost track of exactly how many strains of Hep C there now are. Twenty something? As per most diseases, maybe the perfect cure if there is one is prevention.

Putting things into perspective, the best available drug at any given moment in time is also likely to be the most expensive. No one drug will likely cure most people and if one does it will will likely be prone to resistance developing.

So when you say "the risk is huge in terms of who will win that race", I suspect you are looking at things from a very short term perspective. This isn't a race in that the first across the line isn't the winner and the race (if there is one) doesn't stop. Getting there first is certainly a benefit but there will always be new contenders with benefits over established drugs to take market share. If it was truely a first over the line scenario then INF/RIV would have already been delcared the winner long ago, but no, development didn't stop with that and it won't stop with Solaldi, or whatever comes after that.

Biotron is positioning BIT225 to work as part of a cocktail of drugs. They aren't trying to back themselves as a one size fits all solution. As such success from others may actually bode well for BIT.