How would you know if he is or is not a pushover? Sure, we can hope that he isn't, but thus far, we have little hard data by which to judge his deal-making acumen.

To the best of our knowledge, we had one (1) offer for HIV which was Vyera, a company with a shaky past at best, and the deal we got does not call for major amounts of cash upfront, is it all based on milestones and then most of the payments are quite small to start. We read about so many other companies with lesser products being given loads of cash upfront by BP and we have had no offers like that. Why is that?

One cannot be or not be a pushover when they have no deals to accept or reject. Time will tell how adept he and the team are at making a great deal, and I do think it will come in the form of a buyout. If cancer pans out, BP will want the whole enchilada, including buying out Vyera for HIV in the US.