jerginsa,

I had similar experience to yours in options, in my twenties, too, but, like yours, that was in buying options. Guess who made all the money - the ones selling us those options!

My suggestion was not to buy the puts, but to sell them! As you know, that's a bullish bet, and can net you more stock at a discount, if you really want more stock.

As far as the Pfizer study, if I had my druthers, I wish it had never happened (or, better yet, that the results were more benign), that said, I'm not overly concerned, although it appears to be the straw that broke OPC's back.

However, the release of that study brings out a point I'm always trying to make on these boards: due diligence is overrated - what can sink you, and often does, is something you never saw coming. I'm not saying don't do and due diligence , but there's the law of diminishing returns, not to mention that one tends to become overly emotionally invested in a stock as the result of so much due diligence (not in OPC's case, as he has apparently remained objective, and has decided to exit at this point, but, of course, always can reenter if he sees fit). But most are not like OPC, most tend to fall in love with stocks, and developmental stage biotechs are amonst the most attractive and alluring in the stock universe -veritable sirens!