I firmly believe this is attempting to get control

I firmly believe this is attempting to get control of the patents. Someone was rebuffed by the patent office and is now trying to get them by another means. If you have them,, you really don't have to do trials. You let big pharma take the risk and sell license to use the drug from the patent. There's a really large amount of cash that will be generated from that. This all boils down to taking control of the company, liquidating it, and making as much money privately with zero concern for other investors.