we need the right direction (and new ceo) asap

Selling itself should be the all-consuming focus from here for Biota.

The science is and has always taken care of itself - Biota is fantastic at science. It has unfortunately been a flop at business.

Assuming management have got their due diligence right and selected a standout path to get to Nasdaq, the process around informing everyone about the NABI move has not been "sold" as well as it should - nowhere near; if it had, we'd likely have more excitement from NABI holders...back to the old problems in communication - our bugbear.

Biota has indicated its plans to move to the US/Nasdaq - if the NABI deal falls over for whatever reason, we need to swiftly move to a Plan B, but the message to the market must not change...Biota is coming!

JF talked about having the cash backing and the Nasdaq base in order to attract a top calibre candidate. I actually think Biota should start this process now and put aside a budget of say, $6m over the next 3 years to target a top line US-based CEO and CFO.

Biota has signalled its intentions - it will be heading to the US ASAP. It has a top notch pipeline but I don't think that management are leveraging off this - again, JF has indicated that the right type of candidates will only be attracted once we are there. I disagree - I believe, in order to attract the right calibre of candidate, Biota management needs to believe in itself (its science) first and then, regardless of whether they have landed in the US yet or not, they should be able to attract the highest of calibre CEOs to lead us over there.

I strongly believe we need the US-based credibility before we get there - it will help us to be well recieved sooner rather than later.

We need to hit the US with a splash. We can only maximise this opportunity if we have a CEO of the future (heavily and strategically) involved in this process.

The cost of attracting the right/the best CEO (and surrounding team) will be recouped many times over. We will also be able to excuse PC and DL earlier...and if people are concerned at the costs of attracting a top notch US CEO too early (even if he/she needs to be commuting to/from Australia over the next 6 months), remember that apart from the advantages in securing the best possible leadership as early as possible, there would also be return savings in temporary relocation costs of PC and DL etc.

Let's not be afraid to dangle the carrot too early. If Biota believes in itself, this is what counts!