Biotech Mailbag: Bad CEOs Offer Lessons

The study randomized patients to either a once-daily topical application of thymosin beta-4 or placebo over 84 days. Safety and tolerability of the drug are the primary endpoints of the study, but RegeneRx is also measuring wound healing as a secondary endpoint. It's not clear from the study's description, but I'd be curious to learn the severity of these pressure ulcers and what other treatments are being used in both arms of the study.

Outside the clinical trials, RegenerRx appears to be chronically short of cash. Cash on hand totaled $5.4 million at the end of the third quarter and it recently raised another $3 million. Being cash-poor in this market is a bad place to be.

But then, RegenerRx appears to rely on its European partner, Sigma Tau, for most of its financing, so if these thymosin beta-4 drugs show promise, perhaps it just makes more sense for Sigma Tau to buy the entire company.

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Before I wrap up the Mailbag for this week, I want to make sure that everyone is getting ready for 2009 with my clinical trial data preview that I posted Thursday.

The list covers significant phase II and phase III studies expected during the first half of next year. Companies like InterMune (ITMN Quote), Poniard Pharmaceuticals (PARD Quote), Orexigen (OREX Quote), Amgen (AMGN Quote) and Neurocrine BioSciences (NBIX Quote) are included.