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Post by akemp3000 on Apr 29, 2022 3:42:56 GMT -5
It's definitely time for some news so we can all enjoy enhanced dialog, topics and threads. Isn't there a saying something along the line of, "An idle stock is the devil's playground"  |
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Post by prcgorman2 on Apr 29, 2022 6:56:05 GMT -5
'in May' is likely what was either said or intended. Been sucker punched --hard-- to many effin times it's got me paranoid. On another note: I believe Mike thinks and acts like an employee. Case in point: during last call's Q&A session an analyst asked (I ad lib) if they had any plans to deploy their excess cash into distresses companies. This was a stupid question and Mike answered appropriately (ie yeah, we've always have our eyes out for opportunities). This becomes a bullet point on a subsequent presentations. So this guy's editing PowerPoints thinking small and like I said, doing a job (not saying he isn't working hard). He just has no industry clout... At all. IIRC, MIke has an MBA from Wharton, and a doctorate in Pharmacy. Speaking of pharmacy, he worked his way through college in a pharmacy. He is still young and worked his way up through various positions in the industry. Yes, he seems like a regular guy because he is, but I think it is a mistake to underestimate his knowledge, experience, and abilities. |
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Post by cretin11 on Apr 29, 2022 9:06:06 GMT -5
'in May' is likely what was either said or intended. Been sucker punched --hard-- to many effin times it's got me paranoid. On another note: I believe Mike thinks and acts like an employee. Case in point: during last call's Q&A session an analyst asked (I ad lib) if they had any plans to deploy their excess cash into distresses companies. This was a stupid question and Mike answered appropriately (ie yeah, we've always have our eyes out for opportunities). This becomes a bullet point on a subsequent presentations. So this guy's editing PowerPoints thinking small and like I said, doing a job (not saying he isn't working hard). He just has no industry clout... At all. IIRC, MIke has an MBA from Wharton, and a doctorate in Pharmacy. Speaking of pharmacy, he worked his way through college in a pharmacy. He is still young and worked his way up through various positions in the industry. Yes, he seems like a regular guy because he is, but I think it is a mistake to underestimate his knowledge, experience, and abilities. If he were running a pharmacy, it would indeed be a mistake to underestimate his knowledge, experience and abilities. Also would be a mistake to underestimate his personal ambition to move up the corporate ladder. ptass stated his opinion that MC has no industry clout. That seems a fair point, and not necessarily a “bash” on MC. It’s still possible he can improve in that regard. |
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Post by radgray68 on Apr 29, 2022 11:34:50 GMT -5
Al Mann had "clout"
That and a sawbuck will get you a cup of coffee if the dosing is inadequate, insurers are locked into step therapy and nobody will let your salespeople into the office for 2 years.
And May means by the end of May.
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Post by prcgorman2 on Apr 29, 2022 12:06:00 GMT -5
IIRC, MIke has an MBA from Wharton, and a doctorate in Pharmacy. Speaking of pharmacy, he worked his way through college in a pharmacy. He is still young and worked his way up through various positions in the industry. Yes, he seems like a regular guy because he is, but I think it is a mistake to underestimate his knowledge, experience, and abilities. If he were running a pharmacy, it would indeed be a mistake to underestimate his knowledge, experience and abilities. Also would be a mistake to underestimate his personal ambition to move up the corporate ladder. ptass stated his opinion that MC has no industry clout. That seems a fair point, and not necessarily a “bash” on MC. It’s still possible he can improve in that regard. “If he were running a pharmacy...” not necessarily a bash? I disagree.
No clout? Well, take anybody his age with his credentials, experience, and abilities, and plop them in a pharma pipeline company on the edge of bankruptcy with a single product, with a black box warning on the label, no salesforce to speak of, and then ask them to “re-launch” the product all the while dealing with “toxic debt”, prescriber reluctance, and scarce insurance coverage which requires Prior Authorizations and STEP programs, and let’s see how much “clout” they can develop in 5 years, 2 of which are during the worst global pandemic in 100 years.
“May” be by the end of “May” Dr. Castagna “may” enjoy a little genuine gratitude from genuine investors.
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Post by sayhey24 on Apr 29, 2022 12:30:56 GMT -5
If he were running a pharmacy, it would indeed be a mistake to underestimate his knowledge, experience and abilities. Also would be a mistake to underestimate his personal ambition to move up the corporate ladder. ptass stated his opinion that MC has no industry clout. That seems a fair point, and not necessarily a “bash” on MC. It’s still possible he can improve in that regard. “If he were running a pharmacy...” not necessarily a bash? I disagree.
No clout? Well, take anybody his age with his credentials, experience, and abilities, and plop them in a pharma pipeline company on the edge of bankruptcy with a single product, with a black box warning on the label, no salesforce to speak of, and then ask them to “re-launch” the product all the while dealing with “toxic debt”, prescriber reluctance, and scarce insurance coverage which requires Prior Authorizations and STEP programs, and let’s see how much “clout” they can develop in 5 years, 2 of which are during the worst global pandemic in 100 years.
“May” be by the end of “May” Dr. Castagna “may” enjoy a little genuine gratitude from genuine investors.
Lets be real. Mike was not given a polished silver spoon when he took over but he was given the golden goose which needed to be cared back to health. He was also thrown a big lifeline by Martine. Mike also knew very little about the diabetes industry when he showed up at MNKD and even less about afrezza. He has learned a lot. I sure hope he has learned the ADA is not his friend and never will be. That includes nearly all of its members. Maybe he has a secret friend in Kevin Sayers but Kevin needs to sell CGMs to everyone. After 6 years he seems to now be on the right path. He does however need to get really aggressive with his Seeing is Believing campaign. He also needs to start steam rolling the ADA while starting his own SoC with the AACE, ATTD or someone else. In the end he needs a simple SoC card to give his reps to go into these corporate GP medical offices and explain how afrezza will not only make the PWD better but the doctors lives better and more profitable. |
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Post by cedafuntennis on Apr 29, 2022 14:36:35 GMT -5
“If he were running a pharmacy...” not necessarily a bash? I disagree.
No clout? Well, take anybody his age with his credentials, experience, and abilities, and plop them in a pharma pipeline company on the edge of bankruptcy with a single product, with a black box warning on the label, no salesforce to speak of, and then ask them to “re-launch” the product all the while dealing with “toxic debt”, prescriber reluctance, and scarce insurance coverage which requires Prior Authorizations and STEP programs, and let’s see how much “clout” they can develop in 5 years, 2 of which are during the worst global pandemic in 100 years.
“May” be by the end of “May” Dr. Castagna “may” enjoy a little genuine gratitude from genuine investors.
Lets be real. Mike was not given a polished silver spoon when he took over but he was given the golden goose which needed to be cared back to health. He was also thrown a big lifeline by Martine. Mike also knew very little about the diabetes industry when he showed up at MNKD and even less about afrezza. He has learned a lot. I sure hope he has learned the ADA is not his friend and never will be. That includes nearly all of its members. Maybe he has a secret friend in Kevin Sayers but Kevin needs to sell CGMs to everyone. After 6 years he seems to now be on the right path. He does however need to get really aggressive with his Seeing is Believing campaign. He also needs to start steam rolling the ADA while starting his own SoC with the AACE, ATTD or someone else. In the end he needs a simple SoC card to give his reps to go into these corporate GP medical offices and explain how afrezza will not only make the PWD better but the doctors lives better and more profitable. ---------- Let's clarify a bit your statement above. Mike was not given anything by Martine. He worked for it and landed it after a few years of hard work fixing the financial mess he was handed by the incompetent CEOs before him. Those people should have never been anywhere near the C suites, not even as janitors. Martine would not give charity even out of respect for Al, if she would not know what she has. Otherwise, she would have done it long ago. Given what he had to work with, Mike performed a miracle. |
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Post by cretin11 on Apr 29, 2022 15:59:51 GMT -5
If he were running a pharmacy, it would indeed be a mistake to underestimate his knowledge, experience and abilities. Also would be a mistake to underestimate his personal ambition to move up the corporate ladder. ptass stated his opinion that MC has no industry clout. That seems a fair point, and not necessarily a “bash” on MC. It’s still possible he can improve in that regard. “If he were running a pharmacy...” not necessarily a bash? I disagree.
No clout? Well, take anybody his age with his credentials, experience, and abilities, and plop them in a pharma pipeline company on the edge of bankruptcy with a single product, with a black box warning on the label, no salesforce to speak of, and then ask them to “re-launch” the product all the while dealing with “toxic debt”, prescriber reluctance, and scarce insurance coverage which requires Prior Authorizations and STEP programs, and let’s see how much “clout” they can develop in 5 years, 2 of which are during the worst global pandemic in 100 years.
“May” be by the end of “May” Dr. Castagna “may” enjoy a little genuine gratitude from genuine investors.So defensive. Ptass's statement was that Mike lacks industry clout, and again that's not a bash. Just a reasoned observation. Script growth has fallen woefully short of what he (and all of us) predicted. This space is a brutally difficult one, so it's likely many other CEOs would've failed too, we'll never know. But hopefully he has learned a lot of lessons in the meantime, and can navigate these waters better going forward. As sayhey said, Martine threw him a big lifeline and that should buy him time to keep figuring it out. He's lucky to have that time (thanks to such a patient BOD and shareholders) and he'd be wise to collaborate with VDEX to tap into that readily available source of knowledge and experience. Sometimes it's a chicken and egg thing. Mike doesn't have the clout now, and maybe he won't get that clout until/unless he proves capable of overcoming the hurdles to commercializing Afrezza. Ironically he then wouldn't even need "clout" as much, because we'd be past the inflection point and that snowball would be rolling. THEN he could enjoy earned gratitude from investors (not in May if UTHR gets approval and our share price goes back over $4, sorry that's not enough). |
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Post by sayhey24 on Apr 29, 2022 17:56:35 GMT -5
Lets be real. Mike was not given a polished silver spoon when he took over but he was given the golden goose which needed to be cared back to health. He was also thrown a big lifeline by Martine. Mike also knew very little about the diabetes industry when he showed up at MNKD and even less about afrezza. He has learned a lot. I sure hope he has learned the ADA is not his friend and never will be. That includes nearly all of its members. Maybe he has a secret friend in Kevin Sayers but Kevin needs to sell CGMs to everyone. After 6 years he seems to now be on the right path. He does however need to get really aggressive with his Seeing is Believing campaign. He also needs to start steam rolling the ADA while starting his own SoC with the AACE, ATTD or someone else. In the end he needs a simple SoC card to give his reps to go into these corporate GP medical offices and explain how afrezza will not only make the PWD better but the doctors lives better and more profitable. ---------- Let's clarify a bit your statement above. Mike was not given anything by Martine. He worked for it and landed it after a few years of hard work fixing the financial mess he was handed by the incompetent CEOs before him. Those people should have never been anywhere near the C suites, not even as janitors. Martine would not give charity even out of respect for Al, if she would not know what she has. Otherwise, she would have done it long ago. Given what he had to work with, Mike performed a miracle. I have always liked Mike. I was one of the few people to welcome him and talk with him at his first ASM when he showed up as the CCO. I think he is a good guy and he has pored his heart into MNKD but he was way in over his head when he showed up as the CCO. Now you saying "Mike was not given anything by Martine." - are you kidding me! She knew of Technosphere pretty much from day one Al started working with Sol. MNKD was on the ropes and she could have really put the squeeze on Mike and MNKD. She had the ability to takeover MNKD and toss Mike to the wolves. When Martine threw the lifeline MNKD was still deep in financial problems. It was the spring of 2019 and there was a lot of bets being place the closed sign was going up in July. I am really glad for Mike that he has the potential to be a very wealthy guy. If he pulls this off I won't be doing too bad myself but Mike did not pull off a miracle. He made a lot of missteps along the way which he would not have made if he understood afrezza and the diabetes industry better. Now, I think he has come a long way and is about there but he owes a lot to Martine. She saved his butt. Now for the other guys, Al was running the show but he got sick. If he was still healthy in 2014 things with afrezza would have been a lot different. Matt P. never wanted to run the show but Al passed and Duane DeSisto never showed up on his first day on the job. Mike was put in training for a year in 2016 to see if he could handle it. |
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Post by letitride on Apr 29, 2022 19:04:22 GMT -5
What about Mike? He took a position in a company in disarray and and stepped up to run it. I have been in this since 2013 and I remember a number of conference calls before Mike took over that were hard to listen to. I only stayed because I believed that Afrezza was the bomb. When I listen now I like what I hear and where were going. Martine is exceptional in everyway and if she didnt believe Mike had a clue our partnership would have never begun or Mike would have been gone. Im not thrilled with every move Mike has made but I am thrilled hes making moves. Mike may or may not be a great CEO, and May may not even be the defining moment but back when I was loading shares under a dollar I believed he had the right stuff and as I loaded more today that has not changed. And Kudos to our CFO Mike did not do this alone. It takes a team and I am damn proud of ours. Soon even the kids will know our name. May be happening!
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Post by sportsrancho on Apr 29, 2022 22:58:43 GMT -5
Right now the TEAM at Mannkind is the best it’s ever been IMO. Mike has brought some excellent people on board that truly care. They get it.
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Post by ptass on Apr 30, 2022 1:01:48 GMT -5
I've never met Mike but I'm sure he's an intelligent hard working individual that wants only the best for MannKind and it's shareholders. My character opinion is simply based on a lifetime in corporate America experience. In my opinion Mike's a manager doing the logical things you or I would do and not an agressive visionary that makes shit happen.
Regarding clout, look at Martine. Can you imagine being her. Everyday greeted with disgust (hidden or not) but I bet they all respect her on some level. She's got a plan, is three steps ahead of the competition and only the ignorant can't help but admire her.
On another note: how much would the Afrezza production cost change if the Pfizer insulin in cold storage was certified? Does this still exist??? It definitely did at one point.
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Post by cretin11 on Apr 30, 2022 6:39:17 GMT -5
I've never met Mike but I'm sure he's an intelligent hard working individual that wants only the best for MannKind and it's shareholders. My character opinion is simply based on a lifetime in corporate America experience. In my opinion Mike's a manager doing the logical things you or I would do and not an agressive visionary that makes shit happen. Regarding clout, look at Martine. Can you imagine being her. Everyday greeted with disgust (hidden or not) but I bet they all respect her on some level. She's got a plan, is three steps ahead of the competition and only the ignorant can't help but admire her. On another note: how much would the Afrezza production cost change if the Pfizer insulin in cold storage was certified? Does this still exist??? It definitely did at one point. Well said. I seem to recall reading a while back that unfortunately the Pfizer insulin probably was not able to be certified for use in Afrezza. Hopefully someone here has a better memory and knows for sure. |
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Post by anderson on May 1, 2022 6:56:17 GMT -5
I've never met Mike but I'm sure he's an intelligent hard working individual that wants only the best for MannKind and it's shareholders. My character opinion is simply based on a lifetime in corporate America experience. In my opinion Mike's a manager doing the logical things you or I would do and not an agressive visionary that makes shit happen. Regarding clout, look at Martine. Can you imagine being her. Everyday greeted with disgust (hidden or not) but I bet they all respect her on some level. She's got a plan, is three steps ahead of the competition and only the ignorant can't help but admire her. On another note: how much would the Afrezza production cost change if the Pfizer insulin in cold storage was certified? Does this still exist??? It definitely did at one point. Last word I remember is Mike said (at I believe it was a shareholders meeting several years ago) it was still there and is still being tested periodically. It is cryo stored probably still good since as you can see in this patent from the 70's it says "drug insulin can be stored for an indefinite period of time without any loss of its physical, chemical or pharmaceutical characteristics". patents.google.com/patent/US3683635A/en .But the real part of that deal is the license to produce the Pfizer insulin for inhalation purposes. So if MNKD ever gets enough money they can build an insulin manufacturing plant vertically integrate.
PS the Pfizer insulin is human insulin and should be able to be used to create Afrezza, but it was not the API used in the trials( Merck insulin was and they sold the plant, which is in France, to Amphastar.). There is no reason to spend money on trails to certify it since there is a limited quantity, that is until you build a manufacturing plant.
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Post by prcgorman2 on May 1, 2022 9:54:22 GMT -5
Vertical integration (i.e., manufacturing insulin) is very interesting, especially if it could improve the cost of manufacuring Afrezza enough to make a difference to persons with diabetes.
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