If readers come across a report this week suggesting that Barvarian Nordic’s Prostvac VF is likely to fail in the demonstration of effectiveness in its ongoing Phase III trial, you might want to treat that report with some caution.
Apparently an investment firm called Kerrisdale Capital Management has issued such a report … but Kerrisdale holds a “short” position on 2.7 percent of the shares issued by Bavarian Nordic (according to the latest filing to Denmark’s Financial Supervisory Authority). It is therefore likely that Kerrisdale would benefit significantly from a drop in the value of Barvarian Nordic’s stock price.
The “New” Prostate Cancer InfoLink has no information about the validity of the opinion of this investment firm. For those who are interested, please see this report on the Bloomberg.com web site. The “New” Prostate Cancer InfoLink finds this type of financial “hocus pocus” to be deeply regrettable, given its emotional impact on patients participating in clinical trials.
Filed under: Drugs in development | Tagged: Barvarian Nordic, manipulation, Prostvac, stock |
THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK 
The survival stats with Ipi it were pretty impressive, so I certainly hope there was no bias in the study. We need new, viable, non-toxic immunotherapies to fight the heterogeneity of this damn disease.
Incidentally, Bavarian Nordic’s Chief Development Officer James Breitmeyer, MD, PhD, resigned on July 31 due to personal reasons. The company did not disclose its plans for a successor.