...We Welcome You to the Zenith Epigenetics Hub withIn The AGORACOM COMMUNITY!

Zenith's BET Inhibitor ZEN-3694 is Currently Being Evaluated in Multiple Oncology Clinical Trials

Free
Message: Thoughts on ZCC

I’ve been having a brief look at Zenith. It is interesting to note that Eastern (Ken Dart) holds 36.95% 0f the shares and NGN Capital holds 9.7% and neither have positions on the board of directors that I am aware of. I would think that both of these companies are invested for ROI.

 

Also, the board seems to be almost all insiders, hence leaving Don in complete control (sadly).

 

Also, the board has good science, medical and academic representation, which, perhaps is part of the reason I labeled it “Zenith University”. While I personally love pure science and pure mathematics it would also be nice to see some business influence at the board level.

 

There are 2 accountants to keep the books in order and to assure diligence.

 

However there are no entrepreneurs or finance gurus.

 

Board of Directors in Brief

Don McCaffrey – management - has 40+ years of corporate management experience including over 20 years in drug discovery and development.

 

Dr. Smith – medical - was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary from 1992 to 1997 and Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology from 1997 to 2010. Dr. Smith’s research interests include circulatory mechanics, exercise physiology and echocardiography.

 

Dr. Wong – medical -serves as Professor of Medicine, University of Calgary, a clinician and scientist who specializes in endocrinology, internal medicine, molecular biology, gene/cell therapy and regulation.

 

Mr. Kelly McNeill – accounting - has over 20 years of experience in manufacturing and technology organizations, both large and small, with experience in M&A, raising capital in public equity markets and managing complex operations around the globe. Mr. McNeill holds a Masters of Accountancy and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours), and is a Chartered Professional Accountant/Chartered Accountant.

 

Mr. Zuerblis – accounting - earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Seton Hall University and is a certified public accountant in the State of New Jersey.

 

To be sure, this company seems full of bright lights. One being Dr. Lakhotia who is on the management team

Dr. Lakhotia serves as the Chief Business Officer and heads the development function at Zenith. Sanjay has been instrumental in recent collaborations and partnerships for Zenith – including Pfizer, NCI, UCSF, Merck, and Newsoara – which have helped to significantly advance and expand the clinical pipeline of ZEN-3694 in various cancer indications. He has also led Zenith’s programs from Investigational New Drug filings to mid-stage clinical trials.

 

Sanjay brings over 25 years of experience in corporate development, product development and strategy at leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Between 2010 and 2013, he led corporate development at Pathway Therapeutics, a clinical stage cancer and autoimmune company. Prior to Pathway, Sanjay was Senior Director of Corporate Development at Portola Pharmaceuticals, where his responsibilities included product licensing and program leadership. While at Portola, he contributed to the partnering of a significant Phase 2 asset and championed the development of an important cardiovascular drug now marketed in North America.

 

Prior to joining Portola in 2006, Sanjay held corporate development positions of increasing responsibility at Onyx Pharmaceuticals and MedImmune where he led the execution of several product and technology licensing transactions. Before transitioning to corporate development, he led process development groups at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Baxter contributing to the development of important vaccines, Prevnar and Meningetec.

 

Dr. Lakhotia obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering at Northwestern University, an MBA from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and BS in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

 

So other than Dr. Lakhotia I see little hope for ZCC to turn into a business. Partnerships are developing on the clinical side which is good.

 

With Don at the top in full control it is impossible for me to see, given my 11 year investment history at RVX, any hope of shareholder value being created at ZCC. Of course there are many reason to hope such as a successful Covid trial at RVX resulting in revenue at RVX and providing value to ZCC from the royalty preferred shares but that is literally a dream at this stage.

 

The only hope I see at this stage is that if Dr. Lakhotia in combination with the science has created enough interest and strong relationships with the Pharma partners to strike a buy out deal..

 

Don seems old and tired. He is a bush league, small time thinker IMHO He lacks the drive and business skills to move things ahead. I watched him go through his manic phase from Sept 2020 to spring of 2021 and now he is in an “excuse” phase at RVX.

 

Unless others like Dr. Lakhotia have enough influence ZCC will languish in continuous small private placements.

 

I don’t know why on earth Eastern and NGN Capital are not holding Don accountable but I’m just a frustrated old man and long shareholder of these dogs.

 

As and aside has anyone kept track of Christoph Boehringer (CD-Venture) and his RVX/ZCC investments? He held a large number of RVX shares and I believe he was invested prior to spinco in 2013.

 

Anyway, I guess in the end, I’m just ranting about lack of liquidity again.

 

GLTA

Toinv

Share
New Message
Please login to post a reply