Mannkind: A Growing Threat To The Status Quo
Apr 16, 2016 19:09:29 GMT -5
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Post by centralcoastinvestor on Apr 16, 2016 19:09:29 GMT -5
A Story To Share
Let me begin with a personal family story. My father in law was a salesman for an industry not related to pharmaceuticals. However, he got paid for sales volume just like most sales people. He spent most of his career working for big companies. He always felt that working for a big company was safe and in the best interest of his family. Toward the later part of his career, as he was nearing a point where he would be vested in one company’s pension system, he was fired. It was very unfair and devastating. Trying to find work in various sales jobs was tough. Eventually, he was forced to build his own sales business in the industry he already knew. What he found over time was that he should have gone to work for himself much earlier in his career. He made much more money and was quicker to adapt to ever changing industry trends.
How does this relate to Mannkind? For years, the message to Mannkind from all of the talking heads, most investors (including myself) and from industry norms was that they had to partner once Afrezza achieved FDA approval. “It’s just the way it’s done.” Unfortunately, we all know what the result of that partnership with Sanofi turned into…..a completely lost year. As I have stated before, I believe it is painfully obvious that Sanofi sandbagged Afrezza. However, as with my father in law’s situation, I believe Mannkind will achieve greater prosperity unchained from a very traditional pharmaceutical company that truly just doesn’t understand Afrezza and the paradigm shift in represents to diabetes care.
Asymmetric Warfare
Wikipedia defines Asymmetric Warfare as a “war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly. This is typically a war between a standing, professional army and an insurgency or resistance movement.” Can you guess which opposing group type fits Mannkind at the moment? Mannkind has been forced out into the cold, to survive on its own. Many have said that it spells the end of Mannkind and Afrezza. I believe differently. I believe that Mannkind can and will survive in the near future by employing non-traditional (asymmetric) strategies. What might some of those strategies look like:
Big Pharma is large … Mannkind is small
Mannkind needs to find beachheads in places that Big Pharma has forgotten about or deemed too small to care about. Any victory, however small will build Mannkind business. This could include specific cities or perhaps certain diabetic interest groups.
Big Pharma is slow … Mannkind is fast and nimble
Mannkind will need to identify opportunities quicker and act on those oppertunites faster than Big Pharma. The great thing about being small is that you don’t have a bazillion levels to getting anything approved.
Big Pharma is traditional … Mannkind is non-traditional
Mannkind cannot afford a traditional sales approach for Afrezza. “Necessity is the mother of invention.” The internet is a huge new frontier for advertising. Mannkind invented Technoshere and Afrezza – why not invent a completely new approach to advertising.
Conclusions
What is the greatest risk to Mannkind right now? I would say it is having the cash necessary to fund operations over the next two years. I believe that CEO Matt Pfeffer and the Mannkind Board have that covered and I hope to hear soon what that looks like. Once Mannkind can prove that they have the financial staying power to survive the next year or two, I believe they become a dangerous company to the Status Quo. Having been burned by Big Pharma once, they will be very cautious about trusting anyone. In my mind, that is good. Mannkind is being forced to wage an asymmetric war and as they show more and more people how well Afrezza controls diabetes and how many drugs can be delivered using the Technosphere platform, the status quo in the drug industry will be very much disturbed. I can hardly wait to see how this unfolds. The longer Mannkind survives, the more dangerous they become.
I will conclude with a recent quote from the newly hired Michael Castagna that gives me great hope that Mannkind is going wage a very unconventional war to see that Afrezza and Technosphere change the world:
“The reason I took the job is that I’ve been in this industry 20 years and I’ve had lots of specialty brands but I’ve never had a brand that had patient advocates like this one who aren’t paid and have no real ties to the company, but they just love this product and are authentic advocates on how it’s radically shifted their life in a positive way.”
Let me begin with a personal family story. My father in law was a salesman for an industry not related to pharmaceuticals. However, he got paid for sales volume just like most sales people. He spent most of his career working for big companies. He always felt that working for a big company was safe and in the best interest of his family. Toward the later part of his career, as he was nearing a point where he would be vested in one company’s pension system, he was fired. It was very unfair and devastating. Trying to find work in various sales jobs was tough. Eventually, he was forced to build his own sales business in the industry he already knew. What he found over time was that he should have gone to work for himself much earlier in his career. He made much more money and was quicker to adapt to ever changing industry trends.
How does this relate to Mannkind? For years, the message to Mannkind from all of the talking heads, most investors (including myself) and from industry norms was that they had to partner once Afrezza achieved FDA approval. “It’s just the way it’s done.” Unfortunately, we all know what the result of that partnership with Sanofi turned into…..a completely lost year. As I have stated before, I believe it is painfully obvious that Sanofi sandbagged Afrezza. However, as with my father in law’s situation, I believe Mannkind will achieve greater prosperity unchained from a very traditional pharmaceutical company that truly just doesn’t understand Afrezza and the paradigm shift in represents to diabetes care.
Asymmetric Warfare
Wikipedia defines Asymmetric Warfare as a “war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly. This is typically a war between a standing, professional army and an insurgency or resistance movement.” Can you guess which opposing group type fits Mannkind at the moment? Mannkind has been forced out into the cold, to survive on its own. Many have said that it spells the end of Mannkind and Afrezza. I believe differently. I believe that Mannkind can and will survive in the near future by employing non-traditional (asymmetric) strategies. What might some of those strategies look like:
Big Pharma is large … Mannkind is small
Mannkind needs to find beachheads in places that Big Pharma has forgotten about or deemed too small to care about. Any victory, however small will build Mannkind business. This could include specific cities or perhaps certain diabetic interest groups.
Big Pharma is slow … Mannkind is fast and nimble
Mannkind will need to identify opportunities quicker and act on those oppertunites faster than Big Pharma. The great thing about being small is that you don’t have a bazillion levels to getting anything approved.
Big Pharma is traditional … Mannkind is non-traditional
Mannkind cannot afford a traditional sales approach for Afrezza. “Necessity is the mother of invention.” The internet is a huge new frontier for advertising. Mannkind invented Technoshere and Afrezza – why not invent a completely new approach to advertising.
Conclusions
What is the greatest risk to Mannkind right now? I would say it is having the cash necessary to fund operations over the next two years. I believe that CEO Matt Pfeffer and the Mannkind Board have that covered and I hope to hear soon what that looks like. Once Mannkind can prove that they have the financial staying power to survive the next year or two, I believe they become a dangerous company to the Status Quo. Having been burned by Big Pharma once, they will be very cautious about trusting anyone. In my mind, that is good. Mannkind is being forced to wage an asymmetric war and as they show more and more people how well Afrezza controls diabetes and how many drugs can be delivered using the Technosphere platform, the status quo in the drug industry will be very much disturbed. I can hardly wait to see how this unfolds. The longer Mannkind survives, the more dangerous they become.
I will conclude with a recent quote from the newly hired Michael Castagna that gives me great hope that Mannkind is going wage a very unconventional war to see that Afrezza and Technosphere change the world:
“The reason I took the job is that I’ve been in this industry 20 years and I’ve had lots of specialty brands but I’ve never had a brand that had patient advocates like this one who aren’t paid and have no real ties to the company, but they just love this product and are authentic advocates on how it’s radically shifted their life in a positive way.”
