Fair value, page-50

Mr. Hoyland,

You never cease to impress me with your observations regarding the business side of this, in addition to being a fan of such bands as Iron Butterfly, I think? I know this is an apples to oranges comparison, but one only has to look at Biogen and their hiring of George Scangos on July 5th, 2010. Their stock is up close to 700% since he was hired. He sh^^canned the research where they were behind their rivals and focused on their strengths. Now, they have taken the "lead" in the race for a cure for Alzheimer's which I know we all want, probably even more than the ultimate "cure(s)" for the various forms of Cancer. Granted, it was a Phase 1 trial with only 166 participants, but the results were striking. One big takeaway for me is plaque develops in people's brains up to 15 years before symptoms start occurring which is rather scary.

If anyone can get a read on Fortune Magazine's May issue, it's the lead story. How is this relevant to the topic heading? It's amazing what can happen for a company when a top level executive is running the show, be it any size of any business. The article goes into much greater detail about Scangos and Alzheimer's and Biogen's other products and development. It's about managed risk, and allocating your resources to best further your product lines and developing new strategies and always having a plan B, C and even D.... in place if your plan A fails, and in this case, having brilliant scientists working for you. I have a "Vegas" type bet on this, and that's what it seems to be now with these guys with all the focus on the current trial, red or black as Hoyland said and hope the technology will overcome (what I perceive to be) the shortcomings of management. Just my opinion.