Agreed Erewhon - and there has been a growing trend - esp in the...

Agreed Erewhon - and there has been a growing trend - esp in the US to strike deals much sooner in the trial process for good biotech stories.

The risk capital biotech sector in the US however is much more evolved, with good companies (if PAB was based in the US) having much higher market caps compared to Australian based companies at similar stages of development.

So if any potential takeover price is NOT right..... PAB MAY still want to go it alone with a phase IIb/III trial done in house. If this occurs, it will further "de-risk" the company and offer potentially a much larger licensing deal with big pharma prepared to pay a premium for (but at a later stage).

Remember this is a dose escalating phase IIa trial with the main outcome being safety/dosing profiles, and secondary outcomes being efficacy. It is also conceivable that once "the in house phase II/III trial begins", then Big Pharma will then strike a deal!).

Many permutations and possibilities - however will all be contingent on the results of cohort 4 in the current phase IIa trial.

Regardless, I sure hope your prophecy for the weeks ahead comes to fruition (hopefully the results with be so "blindingly good" that competitive tension between competing big pharma comes in to play - and a deal with a large premium to the current market cap gets struck - now wouldn't that be great!!).

IMO and DYOR