Rumors of Pfizer (PFE) Coming On As A Partner Rum

Rumors of Pfizer ( PFE ) Coming On As A Partner

Rumors have been flying around about Pfizer coming on as a partner with CLSN after positive Phase III trial news. This rumor/speculation has been floating around ever since CLSN announced a supply agreement with Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical in China. Hisun is partnered with Pfizer which is also mentioned in that PR as having a $295 million joint venture agreement.

Again, from the conference call :

"HCC has been a challenge for even the biggest of big pharma despite of the hundreds of millions of dollars they have spent to find a therapy to improve outcome, HCC remains a large and deadly cancer."

And what do you know? The "biggest of big pharma" just so happens to be Pfizer , and, "coincidently" Pfizer has indeed spent hundreds of millions trying to fight HCC and failed. Here's an example of a Phase III trial discontinued amid failure for the Sutent drug to treat HCC, despite 82,000 patient experience with Sutent (presumably including for other indications as well though).

PFE has been hell-bent at finding therapies to treat HCC so CLSN, post positive-data, would make a logical fit. More from PFE :

"Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common form of liver cancer, and is the fifth most frequently diagnosed cancer worldwide. Many HCC patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage when traditional treatment options provide limited benefit. One of the most fatal cancers, the prognosis for HCC is generally poor, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 7 percent. Despite advances in treatment, effective therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma remains a clinical challenge in the oncology community, and additional treatment options are critically needed to address this continuing unmet need."

More from CLSN :

"Our target population, median time to progression is 12 months with median time to death 30 months. Five year survival is in the single digits. It's clear that the clinical evidence for a successful HEAT trial is on our side. The medical world, I daresay, is watching ."

Pfizer especially, no doubt.

Again, keep in mind, however, if the phase III data comes in surprisingly bad, the clock will strike midnight, Prince Hope will disappear, and the stock price will come crashing down in a terrible way. CLSN is not without risk. No matter how optimistic management may be, they are human and could be overoptimistic and making bad mistakes. It's a risk, and the risk is total. But it's a risk I'm willing to take for a potentially very large reward.