The next focusIR Investor Webinar takes places on 14th May with guest speakers from Blue Whale Growth Fund, Taseko Mines, Kavango Resources and CQS Natural Resources fund. Please register here.
Hi Nozick, you beat me to it! I was going to add a post with Seed as the comparator.
I'm sure a totally different market is being targeted by Seed but they launched with a clear, planned and superbly designed campaign. No live testing of marketing/advertising options which in my opinion is thoroughly unprofessional.
The biggest worry is that the Bioenergiser campaign, if you can call it that, strongly suggests that they don't actually know much, if anything, about the company and products they are supposed to be selling otherwise they would have launched with a professional equivalent of Seed although clearly shaped to suit what will be a different market. Overweight, Saturday tabloid consumers are somewhat different to the cool of East/West coast USA!! I will watch this campaign with interest!
Elrico, Thanks for posting but to be honest I'm very disappointed with these efforts from Bioenergiser.
For starters, any marketing organisation worth their salt would have tested before launch rather than this trial and error approach which inevitably will turn off segments of the addressable market.
Next, using Steve Thompson as brand ambassador is very strange. Yes, he's clearly overweight but other than rugby fans of a certain vintage who the heck remembers or has heard of him? Not many.
The ad scheduled to go out in the saturday press in my opinion cheapens the brand image. It's downmarket to say the least and is no different from most of the ads in the weekend tabloid press - cramped noise. Opti is head and shoulders above any competition (personally I don't think there is any) so why not create an image that reflects that. All in all very disappointing and, IMO, a missed opportunity.
Keep up shandy! NHS spends £600m+ per annum on OTC products for minor ailments. For example, glucosamine for joint aches. Much cheaper for individuals to buy themselves rather than troubling the NHS. Something like LPLDL, whilst a supplement, has medical benefits so could easily be prescribed by a GP. I'm promoting Opti in my local health centre but still to convince that it is an alternative to statins despite compelling evidence!!
Well said Ivy! Not what was hoped for but we live to fight another day which is more than can be said for a lot of unfortunate people who might have benefited from Iclaprim
Belgrano, reference your question below about sales suggest you check out RNS 7th May about LPLDL agreement with Capsa in Spain. I can confirm product under the brand 39ytu has been on the shelves in Spain for a number of months through both health food outlets and pharmacies. Product is COL-15-FRESA. It is also available through El Corte Ingles, the Spanish equivalent of John Lewis/Waitrose although I don't know if the same brand.
For what it's worth, the brand name 39ytu comes from us apparently having 39 billion bacteria in our guts!!
https://www.capsafood.com/nutraingredientes-awards/
...and don't forget the first name, Adrain McBain, who, along with Cath O'Neill, discovered the SBTX technology. He is also a major shareholder in SBTX with a 3.3% holding.
Perhaps getting carried away here, but apart from the Unilever contingent they are all academics with no commercial interests. Whilst our pair clearly have a deep scientific knowledge to contribute, they also happen to have developed, tested and trialled a product formulation!
Jamesrs1. Posted Sunday on ADVFN by manc10. An excellent find. Worth reading if only for the attendees.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31366612
Don't think so Kettle. Park Lane been mentioned on a number of occasions. Suspect it's all part of his sad little effort to wind up investors by suggesting that GL is living the good life......at our expense!
Bermudashorts - brilliant, brilliant and even more brilliant! Nice to see some humour amongst the OTT seriousness
SP250, I'm a LTH of MTFB and added significantly post Feb 14th. Averaging down or adding at a cheap price....who knows! My decision to invest in the first instance and add subsequently has been based on the best research I can access and I am happy with my investment decision albeit, at this stage, it remains high risk. I've had a no problem with most of your posts as, despite the recent pathetic antics of our parliamentary process, we still live in a democratic society and you are perfectly entitled to your point of view as long as it is objective. The problem I have had, however, with your posts, which is I suspect the problem with most of the anti SP250 commentary, is that you are threatening a decision making process which is based on many hours research (in my case anyway!!!!) with gross subjectivity.
Now, the primary purpose of this post was in response to your post about GL's interview and it was pleasing to see some positive commentary given your negativity towards GL. I am pleased that you have taken this view which to me suggests that you are perhaps more objective than the criticism aimed at you might suggest. I have just watched the interview and given the current circumstances was very impressed with GL both in terms of interview content and delivery style. I have met GL on a number of occasions, unlike you I suspect, and have found him very approachable and as open as circumstances allow. I think he is as open and honest as any CEO can be. Indeed, one of my key investment criteria is personnel. You might like to attend an investment forum and take advantage of that for a 1 on 1 with GL which I suspect might influence your point of view.
In the meantime, keep posting but please drop the offensive commentary. It is unnecessary!
......or the FDA or the Sackler family's fault!
Ivy, many thanks for providing your thoughts and info from the AGM. Ian B for posting.
We wait and see! Not long now
Thanks Ivy. Look forward to your update later. Hope you managed a good 1-on-1 with GL and that you found him, under the circumstances, reasonably assured.
You did well going to the AGM and avoiding the temptation of reading some of the childish hysteria that's been posted on this board today!
j99, you hit the nail well and truly on the head.......(and we will probably never know ...)! Every observation is a speculative point of view, some more likely than others, but still imo speculative until FDA minutes issued. Even then the minutes may well obscure the reality, for example your post earlier
Sheltie, agree with that view. I posted on Monday, 'Conspiracy Theories" with a speculative suggestion that a US competitor could be influencing the progress, or not, of MTFB. Despite being based in the US, and with approval of Iclaprim will be focused on the US market, they won't have the political clout of major US players. Trump's economic isolationism policy will no doubt help.
Pure speculation on my part but until such time as we get clarity from the FDA minutes every observation/opinion is speculation.
As we near an update point with Iclaprim, inevitably stress levels will increase as has been much in evidence on this board recently. With elevated stress levels comes an increase in conspiracy theories, speculation and guestimates as we all try and anticipate an outcome which, no matter how analytical the individual concerned, will have a subjective bias dependent on the desired result. February 14th was an excellent case in point! So let me add a new conspiracy theory!
Dipping into various UK biotech boards over the years, whenever there as been an issue with the FDA there is frequently a loud cry of 'foul' based on the view that the FDA is biased against non-US biotechs particularly small fry, such as MTFB, that have no political clout. Consider that isolationism, for the benefit of the US economically (!!), is at the top of the Trump agenda it would be no surprise to see Government agencies, such as the FDA, falling in line and supporting US developments.
Numerous ideas have been kicked around, some logical some not so, but is this CLR that nobody expected nothing more than a delaying tactic to give a US company an opportunity to catch-up MTFB, gain approval and secure domestic market before a final decision is made on Iclaprim? I don't know of any US competitive developments that might fit the bill but if any fellow posters have a view it would be appreciated.
We were totally wrong last time, let's hope it works out ok this time.
MTFB are holding an investor's evening later this month. Recall it's being hosted by Turner Pope but I can't find any information about it. Can somebody better informed than me post any relevant link or point me in the right direction. Thanks
Ivy, the legalese used in 9 and 10 is a nighmare. I found the explanatory notes more helpful. In short, I think it's a very longwinded way of saying that they may well need cash in a hurry and this gives them the ability to raise up to £1.7m from a friendly investor without the hassle of going through the formalities of share issuance. The very specific number is intriguing as it is too small for the placing that we know is highly likely after the FDA's pronouncement. No doubt some cynic will suggest it's for BoD pay rises!!
Assume you're going to the AGM so one of many questions to join what is no doubt a lengthy list. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it this year so look forward to your feedback
N4, snap and, also, if any connection with the SAB. I dropped an email earlier to the NY office asking for names and specialisms. Unlikely I'll get a reply given I'm sure, like much of this meeting, it will be under wraps but no harm in asking. I'll post any response.
Also, I think it is highly unlikely that any 'expert', no matter how much they're being paid, would accompany MTFB to this meeting if they didn't have a very high degree of confidence in Iclaprim and its ultimate approval. Reputation counts for a lot within the medical profession, particularly amongst the upper echelons.