You do have a good theory about what might have be

You do have a good theory about what might have been going on. Dr Pestell certainly has a deep contact list in the industry and may have been thinking this drug could be brought under his control. He needed a drug to fit in with his research, he approached cytodyn. Prostagene kind of reached its limit and the next step was to put the research into action. Merging with cytodyn might have been an easy target given the small scale status of the company compared to Pfizer/Marovic. Maybe the speed with which the IND was accepted forced Dr Pestell slow down the actual trial to fit into the plan to take over the company?

The crazy thing is that doing any sort of google research on Dr Pestell turns up nothing but a stellar reputation, nothing that indicates any questionable actions. He really seems to be a good person and I am not sure if he might turn out to have legit side of the story. We will likely never know. Maybe tony C will show up somehow and spill the beans on what one of the board member is really like or something. The whole thing is just baffling.