Thsloppy : I appreciate your concerns as stated, and understand your logic behind them. I think Mr. Mann will do whatever he has to do in order to bring this innovative therapy to market and FDA approval. If that/those actions do indeed adversely affect a retail investor like myself, I want to believe that it was simply unavoidable and necessary to obtain approval.

This may sound very naive and "unprofessional" from an investment standpoint, but I am not and have never claimed to be a professional, lol. A long time ago, I read a Forbes article about billionaires and the "source of their wealth stories" - in their own words. I was particularly impressed with the story of a man who had made the bulk of his initial wealth/fortune by investing in a "fledgling" biotech/pharmaceutical stock. I will attempt to paraphrase his basic story and course of actions :

A. He became aware of an innovative new drug in it's early test stages, being developed by a relatively unknown start-up company. He realized that if it ever got FDA approval, it had a potential market in the billions of dollars in sales because of the malady/illness that it treated.

B. Having identified the company and product being developed, he did his "due diligence" and looked into the backgrounds of the company officers and department heads. Once he had satisfied himself that these people had great experience in the industry and a "track - record" of success, he initiated a position in the company and closely followed it's progress.

C. Throughout each new trial phase, this investor continued to purchase shares of the company stock. When negative articles by "analysts" of questionable intellect appeared regarding the stock, he added more stock to his position.

D. It took a number of YEARS for the company to keep advancing through all the trials, and the investor continued to ACCUMULATE the company stock. The first time the company submitted an NDA to the F.D.A. it received a C.R.L. and the stock plummetted in price ! The "stubborn" investor bought more and more stock as the price languished in the record low stock prices.

E. More time passed as the company embarked on the NEW TRIALS that the FDA was requiring . Although initial test results were favourable and the news of those results were cause for another escalation in stock price, the investor continued to accumulate the stock.

F. By this critical stage in time, the company was experiencing the financing issues of all new companies without revenue producing products to market, and the market "naysayers" moved into the stock in force ! The hedge funds and institutional players "crucified" the stock, shorting millions & millions of shares. The industry "analysts" from both the financial world and the "scientific community" issued negative outlooks for the eventual approval of the "developmental stage" drug product. The share price of the stock, once again, nosedived to the historical lows. The investor CONTINUED to ACCUMULATE the company stock !

G. Over the entire period of the drugs developmental history, ultimately taking TEN YEARS, this investor maintained his belief in the product and in the men behind the company at the controls. He continued to buy the stock up and down the "roller coaster" of price movements throughout the ten years, never selling -only accumulating.

H. You knew the end of this story before you read my account of it. The company got FDA approval for the new drug and the stock price went through the clouds ! The investor slowly started to sell off some of his position, while still allowing the company to get product sales "ramped up", initially showing a constantly increasing market share for it's drug treatment.

I. I do not recall exactly if the company got bought out, or if the investor simply sold off a significant amount of his holding in the company stock. What the story DID tell me, however, was that the man literally made MILLIONS of dollars from his belief in not giving up and continuing to accumulate ownership in his dream for TEN YEARS !

Will this scenario come true for me ? I do not know yet. Does history ever repeat itself ? It MIGHT. It COULD. If the "miner 49'ers " had not followed a dream to strike it rich in California, huge mines like the Comstock may never have been discovered. If Michael Halbouty had never risked all his cash drilling holes in the ground searching for oil, there would not be a building named after him at Texas A&M University now. If men like Dr. Alfred Mann ever stopped searching for cures to the human ailments following THEIR dream with their OWN money - who would ? Im proud to be a tiny part of his "support team" so to speak. His cause is noble and his intention is honorable. If I ultimately lose my money, I did it in good company and good conscience. GO MNKD ! GO MR. MANN !