Fortress Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBIO)

As I write, it seems like the saga of Pharmacyclics has come to an end with a share price more than 100 fold higher than the lows in 2009. I was certainly a skeptic, but fortunately for my brokerage account and my CAPS score I turned it around before it was too late. What made Pharmacyclics such a sleeper? It was the persistence of the company in wasting remaining resources on Xyctrin after it was obvious to everyone that it was a failure, coupled with the spec crash that seemed as though it would wipe out dozens of biotech stocks. No one was really watching as management underwent a hostile takeover and a new anti-cancer compound advanced into clinical trials. That compound became Imbruvica and the rest is history. I learned from Pharmacyclics not to dismiss a company until I was sure there was nothing of value left in the pipe.

Coronado isn't a close parallel to Pharmacyclics, but I do think there are few eyes on the company right now as they reinvent themselves following the predictable failure of worm eggs to cure autoimmune diseases. After bottoming below 1.5 last year, the company has been restructuring themselves in a complex way. A new subsidiary called CB Acquisition Group was funded with a small IPO and will apparently be spun off. This morning Coronado announced the formation of another subsidiary to be called Checkpoint Therapeutics. Checkpoint will advance a portfolio of human IO-targeted mAb's developed by Wayne Marasco at Dana Farber. Checkpoint has collaborated with TG Therapeutics to develop the anti-PD-L1 and anti-GTR Ab programs in hematologic malignancies. TG Therapeutics is connected to Lindsay Rosenwald, the CEO of Coronado and a long-term player in biopharma venture financing.

What does all this mean? I think Rosenwald has bigger fish to fry than just dragging out his lifespan as CEO of Coronado. That salary is pocket change for him. There's clearly an attempt here to become a serious player in the IO field, which is one of the hottest areas in oncology. If they can pull it off, Coronado will be worth a lot more than the 150M cap they sport today. I made a rapid decision to buy 2000 shares in the premarket at 3.05 this morning and wished I had gone ahead with 20000 as the share price shot up over 3.6. In the end, I held my shares as the stock settled at 3.2 and I imagine the position will get substantially larger if the near-term price action doesn't indicate that I've been suckered.