They could have used the stock as a leveraged play on a negative...

They could have used the stock as a leveraged play on a negative market view. Said market view is not so negative anymore, now that the Japanese Central Bank’s rate rise quickly resulted in 3/4s of the estimated global carry trade having been unwound in a shock jolt and the central bankers seem to be walking back a bit after seeing how markets reacted, and the US initial jobless claims did not support an imminent recession. What’s remained of that negative market view is what could happen geopolitically. Who knows what could happen, I don’t think the shorts know.

Nor do I believe they have any inkling about how the FDA would act on the company’s latest resubmission either. Certainly, they don’t have any better intuition about where the chips may fall than people here.

In short, any noted movements are not necessarily indicative of an increase in company specific risk, and if market risk becomes front of mind again (hopefully not, as it then basically means violence spikes again), these positions can be bearing fruit for reasons totally unrelated to the FDA decision. Hope it makes sense.