From the Fools:

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:

An Ugly to Keep an Eye On:

With Mankind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) back on the move in recent weeks, I have begun to watch the stock for some large potential gains into year-end. I believe that Mankind may be one UGLY to keep an eye on. A few words about Mankind, and some of the misconceptions that exist.

Mankind has been pulverized over the last year and a half. Since January 2011, the stock is down from a high of $9.83, closing Friday 06-29-12 at $2.29. This is significantly off it’s 52-week low of $1.57. Although a stocks previous price has no bearings on its return, it is important to keep in mind that this was the perceived value of the stock as it moved toward its most recent FDA rejection. This was the day the company announced the need for further testing on their oral insulin drug.

Many articles and blogs have been written citing a rejection from the FDA on their product. This is not exactly the case. MNKD is being forced to conduct further Phase-III testing on the mouthpiece of the oral insulin product Afrezza, which was added last minute. The company stressed that the new applicator was more comfortable and more effective but now must conduct the tests to prove it.

This testing looks to wrap up around early 2013. But the FDA did not reject MNKD because of what was in the canister so much as the canister itself, which was altered last minute. This distinction is just the type of overlooked piece of information that analysts ignore and tells a different story then the one you may have heard.

Secondly, MNKD’s Chairman and Chief Executive, Alfred E. Mann has put almost 1 billion dollars of his own money into the company. He said on a recent conference call when he was directly asked, that he “was not sure if he was going to put more of his own money in the company or not.” All articles and blogs I have read seem to suggest that he would not be putting any more money into the company. This is a second misconception. One has to believe that after investing a billion dollars of his own capital into his company, he is not going to let it fall into despair.

Thirdly, MNKD cut over 40% of their workforce, news that was for some reason met with continued selling. From a business perspective, cutting overhead is a positive for the company as it tries to remain afloat while it completes the Phase-III trial to the specifications of the FDA.

MNKD’s balance sheet is a disaster. There is no denying that. Uglies are still ugly for a reason. The question of course is will the company be able to wait out the storm for approval? And will Afrezza eventually be approved by the FDA? MNKD does also have a melanoma drug in phase-II trials with some early positive results. The drug is years from being approved even in a best-case scenario, but the company does have other potential drugs in its pipeline.

All and all, I find much of the MNKD news as misinterpretations of the facts. There is no denying that there are many hurdles to overcome for MNKD’s stock price. This of course, is the case with any ugly. The stock seems to have many investors betting against it with a whopping 19% of the float now being held short! Like most UGLIES it is at this moment-- when all hope seems lost-- that one positive piece of news could catapult the stock.

http://beta.fool.com/apavone/2012/07/02/good-bad-and-ugly/6516/?source=TheMotleyFool