I agree, I did some research awhile ago about what the pattern of a buyout looks like historically. It seemed the sequence of events involves a partnership to start and then a buyout. I think what will be most interesting is who the partner is and if they have the ability to buy this out or the connections through other partnerships to do so.

It is smart to establish some relationship, even if it is small or not too controlling to send the message to other interested parties that they have staked a claim. That claim is usually a sign of what will come later. BP may not be too interested in Cytodyn, but if XYZ mid size pharma jumps in, they will be.

Another consistent pattern is buyout biotechs typically have some sort of VC support that got them to the partnership phase. We kind of have that with Paulson, but not in the same structure. I hope the lack of this foundation support ends up meaning us individual investors hold a larger chunk of the pie when these deal do happen. It has been a gamble but we are really past the big expensive hump of proving the science, so missing out on the VC support is water under the bridge.