RE: Ongoing trial21 Apr 2026 09:01
There board have a good idea what the deal sizes at certain stages of development. They've shown us comparable deals many times. Most billion dollar deals happen at phase 2, specifically when efficacy is proven. So the end of phase 2. There is no reason to think if 1801 gets to the end of phase 2 with similar outcomes that it won't be worth a billion dollars or more and with all things equal. A speculative forecast for all compounds combined at that stage could be 5 or 6 billion dollars. Here's the kicker though. We aren't anywhere near that point, it's probably 2 to 5 years away!
The boards job isn't to wait for and just accept an offer. For a buyout, they will have a figure on mind, probably around 10 to 15% of the 5 to 6 billion dollars. This figure acknowledges the risks involved for the acquiring company but pays a premium for improved compounds to own the compounds outright.
The board can, absolutely bat away any informal offers, they probably already have. However, if a formal offer is made then the market will be alerted. We will get an RNS with recommendations from the board to either accept or reject the offer. Low ball formal offer don't usually get made because, even if rejected, they tend to move the price up. We've had very few TR1's here but that doesn't mean there arent 3 or 4 big shareholders just under the TR1 threshold who would work together to vote against the boards decision. On AIM stock, unless a organised group of shareholders can intervene. Our vote is largely regulatory. We will follow the boards recommended strategy. So in the context of this conversation. The future value is set by the market, based on potential market sizes and sales of the compounds. The board will then apply the discounts. That figure is what they will walk into negotiations with.
The other crucial thing here is cash in the bank. It's really hard to negotiate when you are desperate for the win. And for this reason and others, I still think we are heading down the license route.
If we do get a licence. The backend milestones should tell us, what the board think the value is.