In the Saturday, Sept 8th Pursuits section of the Globe and Mail there was a sponsored content section on blood cancers. On page BC3 there was a nice plug for epigenetics as a new field of study in cancer research. Dr. Cheryl Arrowsmith is a Canadian structural biologist and chief scientist at the Toronto laboratory of Structural Genomics Consortium. This is a non profit organization with, as they describe it, “50 drug like molecules the we make available to the entire research community to use and to test any therapeutic hypothesis where there is an epigenetic defect.”

She points out that this is a non-profit organization designed to accelerate the rate of drug development beyond the traditional investor funded, patent protected business model which she says slows down the process of drug development.

So this appears to be similar to open source coding/programming in the computing business.

From my perspective, regardless of the business model, I was thrilled to see the promotion of epigenetics in the Globe & Mail because it builds awareness, interest and credibility for the field within the broader public and investors.

What it means for Zenith Epigenetics at this stage is neither here nor there but this type of article adds another brick in the foundation to build credibility for companies in the field.

It sure would have been nice to have the CURATE.AI enzalutimide + zen3694 N=1 case study as a companion (not advertising sponsored) PR piece a page or 2 away from the sponsored content.

Hey, it’s Sunday and I am sitting out on my deck enjoying Lake Muskoka and dreaming big about Zenith.

I’ve been thinking more and more about the valuations of Resverlogix & Zenith. For Zenith Epigenetics it is very early but the perspectives on value relate to the things like the size of the mCRPC market and zen3694’s potential ability to extend life expectancy and quality of life. For apabetalone we know much more because it come down to the simple issue of “does it do what it is designed to do based on the primary end point of the trial?” If BoM is successful then I think we will have may have a scientific breakthrough. At that point the value of RVX is no longer just about the size and growth of the CVD with DM and low HDL market. I feel that the success of this one compound, apabetalone, in the portfolio of 1500 molecules will begin to focus the true valuation on the underlying science that lead to this success…the theory, the production scaffolds, the potential to fine tune and focus the development of molecules to optimize molecules for other indications that apabetalone has already shown it may have a positive impact on. Perhaps a way to think of it is in terms of clusters of compounds that could be optimized based on characteristics (genetic, demographic, disease state, etc). Perhaps there could be development of apabetalone 1, apabetalone 1.1, apabetalone 1.2, etc. Perhaps there could be compounds that optimize anti-inflammatory characteristics, another that optimizes reverse cholesterol transport, another that optimizes complement impact, etc. But then there could be modifications that optimize the impact on other indications such as HIV, retina, MD, etc. 

I’m way ahead of myself. My point is that if BoM is successful then there is the potential for a dramatic shift in the business model and valuation. I do believe that Don fully understands this and I hypothesize that that is why he fights so hard not to sell short even when he has been under huge pressure for funding recently.

Of course BoM must be successful.

Let’s get some replication on the CURATE.AI study and some new info at the AGM this week.

GLTA

Toinv