Agreed PlayMoney, I don't think Race should become a standalone...

Agreed PlayMoney, I don't think Race should become a standalone pharma, I especially don't think that they should commercialise bisantrene themselves. Setting up large scale sales and marketing infrastructure is incredibly costly. Far easier to hand the rights over to someone with it already in place on a global scale and a track record of commercialising blockbusters.

I would just hate to see RAC get bought at the "sweet spot" of Ph2 data for a single transaction, when there is more on the table later as further synergies and tumor indications are clinically validated.

The current clinical plan of "all-comers" is fantastic, there is a growing trend toward tumor-agnostic indications. If RAC manage to develop a clinical package that supports registration with a label that enables its use wherever an anthracycline is indicated regardless of cancer type, then a single M&A transaction is more suitable. Or if a companion diagnositc is developed that achieves the same result, bisantrene used in patients that will respond regardless of cancer type and/or treatment combinations. The feasibility of this I am unsure of as I can't think of an example at hand. I just don't think a single M&A transaction could capture all of that value (I'm also not saying that any single acquisition wouldn't generate a significant return)

A clearer example that would be interesting to explore would be say, licensing out bisantrene as an adjunct to anthracycline use in breast cancer, and using the funds generated from this deal to clinically validate its utility in any number of other tumors that we know bisantrene works in. Ideally the same partner either co-develops in the subsequent indications or RAC does it themselves. By that time you could look at licensing in further molecules for RAC to develop or either develop any potential new molecules that RAC invents/discovers themselves.

It's all just pie in the sky stuff at the moment, and I also have full confidence that any and all deal structures will be evaluated on their merits in due course. Given those that wanted a quick exit seem to have been shown the door.

It is an interesting exercise to think about the ways that bisantrene will make it to market