My strong opinion is that the partner IS the big pharma. The only 2 options for a partner is a big pharma with the funds to not just partner, but to also buy the company. Once they see the near term revenue stream after fda approval partners become owners. The second is a VC firm that is going to jump in before big pharma and partner long enough until they can work a deal for big pharma to buy it.
either way, Cytodyn may be saying they can be a big pharma (Nader was saying that, not sure if Cyrus feels that way) but i think they are just developing the drug far enough to prove the price value.