"I can't for the life of me think of why an institutional investor or investors who own 59% of a company collectively would want to "take it down hard"."

Especially if some of them paid in the region of $2.80 to fund our development, Correct?
I will try to answer because I have profited from the action.
How long have you seen the sp trading below 1.30 and below 1.20. How many shares changed hands at these prices.
Assume that many of those shares were switched between accounts of the same house or one broker sold to another and then that other sold back to the original. Many being just moved around to maintain price.
Now about loss.
Only loss there is is a penny or two at most when they shuffle shares between friendly accounts.
Net not much of a loss, note that the net is that they are not selling most of their shares that they originally paid over 2$ for.
What they achieve is to force me and you to sell shares at these low prices and they skim of bits and pieces accumulating as they work the system.
When the time comes they will not be selling at these prices but at levels of many dollars. So they lose a few pennies per share now to obtain the privilege of selling at many dollars per share later.
They have patience and persistance and count on you to panic due to belief in current and perceived future status.

If you have been reading my posts of the last months you should have noticed that in my tiny way I mimic the same process. They depress the sp and I try to profit from it with short term trades.

Don't sit back, fight by using the system.