Excellent thoughts, and much better than what I was starting to put together the other day before time got away from me. I did keep what I’d started though, and thought it was relevant to put some of it here.
Keytruda desperately needs its label extended. It’s the end-of-patent-life scramble that every major drug goes through, with hopes of extending that gravy train long enough to cover every last biscuit. That can be accomplished in a variety of ways. New delivery formulations or devices, like IV formulation or extended release capsules. Indications for new treatment populations, like a pediatric label extension or uncovering an entirely new disease state your drug can work for. Or creating combination drugs with existing or up and coming molecules.
It turns out that Merck has been frantically coupling Keytruda with every potential suitor on the block for years now, experiencing failure after failure. These other drugs, when placed in the limelight, can’t seem to get it up.
Here are just the first four links if you google “Keytruda combination failure”:
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3941714-merck-k...ate-cancer
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/merck-t...r-strategy
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/rare-flop...ate-cancer
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/mercks-ke...ate-cancer
And by the way, unless I missed something while skimming through those, they’re all discussing different combinations and their respective failures in just the past year. March and August of 2022, and then February and March of this year.
If they’re not already desperate, they will be very soon.
And I also find it telling that Cyrus specifically spoke about Keytruda and what he believes LL brings to the table in combination. Dude is more careful with his words than a man being asked by his wife if a certain outfit makes her look fat.
He’s been vocal (at least as much as a guy like Cyrus is vocal) about partnering up in the oncology space, in a way as if it’s a done deal just waiting on, say, a hold being lifted or something. He’s also been clear about the specific cancer types/patients he wants to focus on to move forward. It would appear that Cytodyn has been hard at work behind the scenes preparing for the next step. Now he brings up Keytruda in one of just two short interviews he’s given? On the eve of the hold being lifted? Hell, Craig’s law school professors would tell you that even he could follow those breadcrumbs. He won’t, of course. But he could if he wanted to is all I’m saying.
While the GSK connections from a while back are still weird, Merck would seem to be the front runner for an oncology partnership now. I wonder if funding from an oncology deal is, at least in part, how Cyrus plans to fund the Nash trial?
Because I’ve been wondering why it seems like Cyrus wants to run Nash without a partner. I know there are some here, and on other boards, that see it the opposite way. But he has repeatedly used the word “partnership” when discussing oncology but when discussing Nash he’s always just talking about “funding” the trial. If that’s the case, I wonder if it’s because he’s had some discussions with a company like Merck, who wants to provide funding for the partnership but also be first in line to buy out Cytodyn completely if things go the way they hope. Which is the typical arrangement, by the way.
In the case of Sanofi and Provention Bio, Sanofi partnered with them before the approval of Provention’s type 1 diabetes drug. They built in some provisions to ensure they’d get rights of first refusal for things like global rights, among other protections. It was clear they would likely be buying Provention outright if things progressed the way they hoped. In fact, it did end up working out that way. Within a few months of the first patients getting access to the drug, Sanofi announced a buyout and your hero immediately cashed out and bought some expensive wine to celebrate.
If someone like Merck decides to get involved with Cytodyn for oncology, it would certainly be with the extension of their drug’s patent life in mind first and foremost. But big pharma isn’t dumb. They’d know what they’re getting into, and I’d be very surprised if they (or whoever dips their toes into our water) didn’t structure a deal in a way that gave them an inside track at the bigger prize down the road.
Keytruda desperately needs its label extended. It’s the end-of-patent-life scramble that every major drug goes through, with hopes of extending that gravy train long enough to cover every last biscuit. That can be accomplished in a variety of ways. New delivery formulations or devices, like IV formulation or extended release capsules. Indications for new treatment populations, like a pediatric label extension or uncovering an entirely new disease state your drug can work for. Or creating combination drugs with existing or up and coming molecules.
It turns out that Merck has been frantically coupling Keytruda with every potential suitor on the block for years now, experiencing failure after failure. These other drugs, when placed in the limelight, can’t seem to get it up.
Here are just the first four links if you google “Keytruda combination failure”:
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3941714-merck-k...ate-cancer
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/merck-t...r-strategy
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/rare-flop...ate-cancer
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/mercks-ke...ate-cancer
And by the way, unless I missed something while skimming through those, they’re all discussing different combinations and their respective failures in just the past year. March and August of 2022, and then February and March of this year.
If they’re not already desperate, they will be very soon.
And I also find it telling that Cyrus specifically spoke about Keytruda and what he believes LL brings to the table in combination. Dude is more careful with his words than a man being asked by his wife if a certain outfit makes her look fat.
He’s been vocal (at least as much as a guy like Cyrus is vocal) about partnering up in the oncology space, in a way as if it’s a done deal just waiting on, say, a hold being lifted or something. He’s also been clear about the specific cancer types/patients he wants to focus on to move forward. It would appear that Cytodyn has been hard at work behind the scenes preparing for the next step. Now he brings up Keytruda in one of just two short interviews he’s given? On the eve of the hold being lifted? Hell, Craig’s law school professors would tell you that even he could follow those breadcrumbs. He won’t, of course. But he could if he wanted to is all I’m saying.
While the GSK connections from a while back are still weird, Merck would seem to be the front runner for an oncology partnership now. I wonder if funding from an oncology deal is, at least in part, how Cyrus plans to fund the Nash trial?
Because I’ve been wondering why it seems like Cyrus wants to run Nash without a partner. I know there are some here, and on other boards, that see it the opposite way. But he has repeatedly used the word “partnership” when discussing oncology but when discussing Nash he’s always just talking about “funding” the trial. If that’s the case, I wonder if it’s because he’s had some discussions with a company like Merck, who wants to provide funding for the partnership but also be first in line to buy out Cytodyn completely if things go the way they hope. Which is the typical arrangement, by the way.
In the case of Sanofi and Provention Bio, Sanofi partnered with them before the approval of Provention’s type 1 diabetes drug. They built in some provisions to ensure they’d get rights of first refusal for things like global rights, among other protections. It was clear they would likely be buying Provention outright if things progressed the way they hoped. In fact, it did end up working out that way. Within a few months of the first patients getting access to the drug, Sanofi announced a buyout and your hero immediately cashed out and bought some expensive wine to celebrate.
If someone like Merck decides to get involved with Cytodyn for oncology, it would certainly be with the extension of their drug’s patent life in mind first and foremost. But big pharma isn’t dumb. They’d know what they’re getting into, and I’d be very surprised if they (or whoever dips their toes into our water) didn’t structure a deal in a way that gave them an inside track at the bigger prize down the road.
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