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Post by od on Feb 1, 2017 18:04:54 GMT -5
Two caveats - - my healthcare career includes many years as a senior executive at a major global pharmaceutical company; and
- I am enjoying a gin, straight-up, one cube.
I continue to support Mike C, but I fear if I reviewed all his public comments, I would find that rationalization happens too often. No question, Mike's task from day one has been onerous and I admire his resilience. I would feel more comfortable if there was acknowledgment that he could (should ?) have been more cautious with his early assessment of what it takes to right the ship. I am comforted by Mike's comment about Afrezza sales being sensitive to promotion (no surprise) and the importance of the sales team's reach and frequency with providers.
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Post by babaoriley on Feb 1, 2017 18:11:52 GMT -5
I have certain comments on Mike that I will keep to myself until many moons from now. However, I think we all have to realize that there may have been no one that could get this ball rolling with the amount of money we had to work with.
We need a buyout by someone with lots of money. I'll sell cheap.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2017 18:18:42 GMT -5
Two caveats - - my healthcare career includes many years as a senior executive at a major global pharmaceutical company; and
- I am enjoying a gin, straight-up, one cube.
I continue to support Mike C, but I fear if I reviewed all his public comments, I would find that rationalization happens too often. No question, Mike's task from day one has been onerous and I admire his resilience. I would feel more comfortable if there was acknowledgment that he could (should ?) have been more cautious with his early assessment of what it takes to right the ship. I am comforted by Mike's comment about Afrezza sales being sensitive to promotion (no surprise) and the importance of the sales team's reach and frequency with providers. Mike was impressive at the beginning. Still a good guy who is talented but for people who have successfully played in the startup space, they know how hard it is. He made it sound liked he looked at all the data and it would be a slam dunk - no exec who has played in the startup space thinks any startup is a slam dunk. Were going to find out a couple of things about him in the next few months: how much grit he has and how big his balls are. The sales and marketing process is a hell of a lot easier when you have J&J on your business card vs NewCo.
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Post by afrezzamiracle on Feb 1, 2017 18:23:50 GMT -5
Baba, no reason to hold your comments in regarding Mike C. Let them flow. What are you holding back for? It's not like things could possibly be any worse than they are right now. We are all adults and can handle the truth, or at least your opinion.
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Post by therealcd on Feb 1, 2017 18:32:15 GMT -5
Two caveats - - my healthcare career includes many years as a senior executive at a major global pharmaceutical company; and
- I am enjoying a gin, straight-up, one cube.
I continue to support Mike C, but I fear if I reviewed all his public comments, I would find that rationalization happens too often. No question, Mike's task from day one has been onerous and I admire his resilience. I would feel more comfortable if there was acknowledgment that he could (should ?) have been more cautious with his early assessment of what it takes to right the ship. I am comforted by Mike's comment about Afrezza sales being sensitive to promotion (no surprise) and the importance of the sales team's reach and frequency with providers. You are correct. If you are getting at marketable issues here comes twitter. He sometimes shows himself off wearing a football hand or at least having one. Then on July 4 he's out on his boat. That in itself should raise a red flag. He's in Santa ana or wherever and the company is tanking? So yes I think I get your point #1. #2 yes he gets a pass there. Later cd.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2017 19:56:02 GMT -5
Two caveats - - my healthcare career includes many years as a senior executive at a major global pharmaceutical company; and
- I am enjoying a gin, straight-up, one cube.
I continue to support Mike C, but I fear if I reviewed all his public comments, I would find that rationalization happens too often. No question, Mike's task from day one has been onerous and I admire his resilience. I would feel more comfortable if there was acknowledgment that he could (should ?) have been more cautious with his early assessment of what it takes to right the ship. I am comforted by Mike's comment about Afrezza sales being sensitive to promotion (no surprise) and the importance of the sales team's reach and frequency with providers. You are correct. If you are getting at marketable issues here comes twitter. He sometimes shows himself off wearing a football hand or at least having one. Then on July 4 he's out on his boat. That in itself should raise a red flag. He's in Santa ana or wherever and the company is tanking? So yes I think I get your point #1. #2 yes he gets a pass there. Later cd. Good points. At a startup, the workday starts around 5 or 6 am and goes well past sundown. Its a grind and a 12 hour day isn't enough. The kind of behavior you mention says big co guy. Not a bad thing but if you blow out an ACL, probably best not to get a neurosurgeon to do the cutting. Every startup has a near death experience or two. The successful startups have management that finds a way to revive and survive the near death experience. Also, why the fuck are they rolling out the new sales team this late with the first time in the field Feb 13th. If this was my ship, training would have been first week of Jan and the team would be pounding on doors 2nd week of Jan. New Titration pack was supposed to be good to go a few weeks ago, perhaps that was the delay. I guess they are all very busy which I understand. But of course, not too busy to cash those nice big paychecks. They are trying their best, what if we tried out best as company owners to pay them. The answer, is we don't try to pay them, we pay them. They should not try to get results, they should get results.
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Post by careful2invest on Feb 2, 2017 8:45:51 GMT -5
Baba, no reason to hold your comments in regarding Mike C. Let them flow. What are you holding back for? It's not like things could possibly be any worse than they are right now. We are all adults and can handle the truth, or at least your opinion. I strongly disagree! Things could get much, much worse. While a rs is not a positive event in the activity of a company, no matter how Matt paints it, It does keep us on Nasdaq. Not being listed on Nasdaq is not the end of the world either, but that too, would be worse. Premarket pps is surprisingly holding up. That could be worse! Maybe the rs was already priced in our current pps. Premarket reflects that, thus far. MNKD could throw in the towel, that too, would be worse! That said... It's not over for MNKD. Thankfully, I like many, have a lot to lose. We can dig out of where we are currently, and thankfully, many things are aligned to make that happen. Dead money for now, (still) but I think (with a little hopium) that we will rise above the situation that we are currently in. Better sales people, Involvement with JDRF, better insurance coverage, better label coming, more exposure of a revolutionary drug platform (AFREZZA) Word needs to get out to more Doctors and PWD, and MNKD is working on all of the above! Tough road ahead, no doubt, but honestly, things could be a lot worse. We may still make it to success, but unfortunately, the timeline just got longer. Hang in there longs! The fat lady has not sung yet! GLTA TRUE LONGS!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 8:59:04 GMT -5
RS in and of itself sucks, but like you said, not the worst thing. Why then did Matt and Mike yesterday sound like they had just been run over by a freight train? I am nervous that there is more bad news. Castagna had no optimism in his voice when describing the new sales team, better insurance coverage or the improved sample / titration packs. The company seems to have one shot now: successful commercialization of Affrezza in the US. Without this, its over.
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Post by matt on Feb 2, 2017 9:07:54 GMT -5
I am comforted by Mike's comment about Afrezza sales being sensitive to promotion (no surprise) and the importance of the sales team's reach and frequency with providers. I have no doubt that Afrezza is sensitive to reach and frequency, but I wonder if MNKD can manage that with a tiny sales force. In some regions of the country, 80% of the offices are "no see" meaning that they will not allow visits from salesmen. In other places it is more like 30%, but the busier the office the more likely it is that they are no see practices. Part of that is a backlash against past practices where some Big Pharmas overdid frequency with 4-5 different salesmen pushing the same drug in the same office (share of voice marketing), and part is the reality of the current managed care environment where physicians are scrambling to make time to see their patients. While share of voice has pretty much gone away, the policies remain in place, and I wonder how effective any sales force can be if they are knocking on closed doors.
The comment about startups learning to survive near death experiences is certainly correct. I spent time at one where we had decided to terminate almost all the employees (about 50) at 5:00 PM because we were completely out of money; only a few would remain to shut things down. We managed to close on a few hundred thousand at 4:30 PM, putting off disaster for that day, managed another raise for a few million the following week, and slowly crawled out of the hole as the PPS went from around 20 cents to $4.50 over the next 18 months. That was more than ten years ago and when last I looked the company was still breathing.
Near death experiences jade company management, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way, but life is never the same. I don't know that Matt and Mike have the skills to navigate through the rough waters, but we will all find out in the coming months.
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Post by careful2invest on Feb 2, 2017 9:13:39 GMT -5
RS in and of itself sucks, but like you said, not the worst thing. Why then did Matt and Mike yesterday sound like they had just been run over by a freight train? I am nervous that there is more bad news. Castagna had no optimism in his voice when describing the new sales team, better insurance coverage or the improved sample / titration packs. The company seems to have one shot now: successful commercialization of Affrezza in the US. Without this, its over. I hear ya! Only Mike and Matt can answer to your concerns. Unfortunately, All that the rest of us can do is speculate! So here we go...Maybe they were just dreading the reaction of the announcement of the possibility of a rs. Maybe they are spent, but personally I do not think that is the case. Do they both feel a bit defeated, how could they not? But there is hope! AFREZZA is revolutionary. People are learning about it! Just not at the speed that all of us would like. Hopefully that changes with the plan that is in place. Time will tell! GLTA TRUE LONGS!
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Post by kc on Feb 2, 2017 9:38:42 GMT -5
Two caveats - - my healthcare career includes many years as a senior executive at a major global pharmaceutical company; and
- I am enjoying a gin, straight-up, one cube.
I continue to support Mike C, but I fear if I reviewed all his public comments, I would find that rationalization happens too often. No question, Mike's task from day one has been onerous and I admire his resilience. I would feel more comfortable if there was acknowledgment that he could (should ?) have been more cautious with his early assessment of what it takes to right the ship. I am comforted by Mike's comment about Afrezza sales being sensitive to promotion (no surprise) and the importance of the sales team's reach and frequency with providers. Viagra didn't rise to the occasion without promotion. Once they did advertise, it was an instant hard-on.
Sorry for the sexual reference it was only fitting to make it.
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Post by bradleysbest on Feb 2, 2017 9:49:27 GMT -5
Promotion & commercials are what will save the day ....🙏🏻. Like others have said, if MNKD fails with Afrezza & we never saw DTC advertising that would suck. MNKD has to create the demand among the PWD!
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Post by kbrion77 on Feb 2, 2017 9:58:12 GMT -5
I am comforted by Mike's comment about Afrezza sales being sensitive to promotion (no surprise) and the importance of the sales team's reach and frequency with providers. I have no doubt that Afrezza is sensitive to reach and frequency, but I wonder if MNKD can manage that with a tiny sales force. In some regions of the country, 80% of the offices are "no see" meaning that they will not allow visits from salesmen. In other places it is more like 30%, but the busier the office the more likely it is that they are no see practices. Part of that is a backlash against past practices where some Big Pharmas overdid frequency with 4-5 different salesmen pushing the same drug in the same office (share of voice marketing), and part is the reality of the current managed care environment where physicians are scrambling to make time to see their patients. While share of voice has pretty much gone away, the policies remain in place, and I wonder how effective any sales force can be if they are knocking on closed doors.
The comment about startups learning to survive near death experiences is certainly correct. I spent time at one where we had decided to terminate almost all the employees (about 50) at 5:00 PM because we were completely out of money; only a few would remain to shut things down. We managed to close on a few hundred thousand at 4:30 PM, putting off disaster for that day, managed another raise for a few million the following week, and slowly crawled out of the hole as the PPS went from around 20 cents to $4.50 over the next 18 months. That was more than ten years ago and when last I looked the company was still breathing.
Near death experiences jade company management, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way, but life is never the same. I don't know that Matt and Mike have the skills to navigate through the rough waters, but we will all find out in the coming months.
Do you feel MNKD is essentially in start-up type mode? I do. I know they have had lay offs during the last few years but in my eyes as a shareholder every penny counts. So why are we hiring a Chief People Officer responsible for global expansion at this point in time? The company has 2 objectives right now, sell Afrezza and strike any type of Techno deal, how many people do we really need to operate those 2 objectives? I cannot imagine the amount of unnecessary overhead right now for a company bleeding cash. I will continue to say something just is not adding up with company decisions. If they don't announced something related to global partnership in the next 4 months than why are we wasting crucial cash on a Chief People Officer?
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Post by kc on Feb 2, 2017 10:01:48 GMT -5
Promotion & commercials are what will save the day ....🙏🏻. Like others have said, if MNKD fails with Afrezza & we never saw DTC advertising that would suck. MNKD has to create the demand among the PWD! Simple teases on Facebook targeted towards diabetes showing the product and saying go ask your Doctor. I know that there are FDA guidelines but it does not have to be very complex. It won't matter six months from now if we are in chapter 11.
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Post by sportsrancho on Feb 2, 2017 15:33:13 GMT -5
Promotion & commercials are what will save the day ....🙏🏻. Like others have said, if MNKD fails with Afrezza & we never saw DTC advertising that would suck. MNKD has to create the demand among the PWD! Simple teases on Facebook targeted towards diabetes showing the product and saying go ask your Doctor. I know that there are FDA guidelines but it does not have to be very complex. It won't matter six months from now if we are in chapter 11. Kc, what is the hold up on this? This is what we need now!
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