Bob Duggan loaned his company Summit Therapeutics ~$500 million to allow the firm to purchase the rights to an investigational drug called Ivonescimab in the US, the UK, and other countries. The rights were purchased from a company called Akeso Inc. which is incorporated in the Cayman Islands.
Ivonescimab showed some potential in Phase II trials in China in treating Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).
The rights to China are excluded from the deal. This disclosure is also made by Akeso:
Ivonescimab is an investigational therapy that is not approved by any regulatory authority. It is currently being investigated in Phase III clinical studies.|
Links to the websites we look at in the video:
Summit & Akeso Partnership for the drug Ivonescimab
Ivonescimab for small cell tumor lung cancer treatment
Akeso Inc. is based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) a/k/a Mainland China. As such, it is subject to the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lead by Xi Jingping.
The chain of ownership of Akeso Inc. from top to bottom:
The Charoen Pokphand Group Company, Ltd. a/k/a the CP Group is a Thai conglomerate based in Bangkok. The conglomerate owns >200 businesses in Mainland China. 2022 Revenues are reported as $82 billion.
The CP Group is Thailand’s largest private company and the largest privately held Royal Warrant holder of the Thai Royal Family.
The CP Group owns Sino Biopharmaceutical Limited a/k/a Sino Biopharm which is located in Mainland China.
Sino Biopharm owns Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. a/k/a CTTQ is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Mainland China. It is one of the shareholders of CTTQ Akeso. CTTQ is located in Shanghai, China.
CTTQ-Akeso Biomed. Tech. Co., Ltd (正大天晴康方(上海)生物醫藥科 技有限公司), a limited liability company incorporated under the laws of the PRC on August 30, 2019. CTTQ owns part of CTTQ-Akeso.
Akeso, Inc. (康方生物科技(開曼)有限公司), is a limited liability incorporated in the Cayman Islands on January 30, 2019.
Does Bob Duggan believe in the potential of ivonescimab? Yes and no. He loaned his company Summit Therapeutics $500 million to purchase the rights to the drug.
Bob Duggan then had Summit Therapeutics offer 476 million shares of stock to the market in order to raise capital to pay Bob Duggan back his $500 million.
In our view, Bob Duggan wants to completely eliminate his financial risk by shifting it onto investors. Bob wants his $500 million back and plans to get it by selling stock. This allows Bob to have his cake and eat it too: He locks up the rights to an investigational therapy which, if it fails, the investors lose. If it goes big, Bob makes money from his shares in Summit Therapeutics.
Read the SEC Document: Repayment to Bob Duggan
Bob Duggan in earlier days when he and Trish were married. They are shown here with Scientology leader David Miscavige who presented them with yet another IAS trophy for donating millions of dollars. According to Forbes Magazine, Bob Duggan has donated more than $360 million to the Church of Scientology in his lifetime.
Categories: Bob Duggan, Summit Therapeutics
