A biotech company doing incredibly vital medical work at its most crucial stage, a NEW treatment that could save HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS from blindness and ruined lives, just got hit with a huge fine. I don’t care what they did!! I don’t care if there was insider trading or whatever. DO NOT CARE. Huge corporations get away with murder, but tiny little startup ACT, operating on a shoestring, is the one that got nailed.
And come on, we all know why. They work with embryonic stem cell research, the only kind that is actually effective right now. The treatment for age-related macular degeneration could be two years away from hitting the market if they were not being undermined all the time. The studies are going great. There are absolutely no adverse reactions in patients. But because of the insistence that a stem cell= person, and apparently the people who are already born don’t count…who cares about all the old people, anyway… and ten year old children going blind from Stargaard’s disease aren’t important… ACT is being brought down. VILE AND DISGUSTING.
And if they were doing things that were unethical? Fuck them. I’ve worked in medical research, in ophthalmic research, for over a decade. Do it right or get out of the business.
Here. Apparently the US Securities and Exchange Commission thinks that billions of shares of unregistered penny stocks will kill unborn babies for their stem cells or something, so they’re being big neocon meanies by making them pay back about $4 million in profits over the next 18 months. And their stock dropped less than a percentage point.
Agreed. The law should be enforced impartially. It’s a bad idea to let the government decide a company should be allowed to break the law because it’s doing some greater good.
I am one of ACT’s shareholders. Those to blame are the late CEO, Bill Caldwell, and his successor, Gary Rabin, who was on the board of directors when Caldwell made unlegal financing deals.
The fine ACT has to pay doesn’t undermine the company’s work. It will be payed on the back of the shareholders.
How about this rule instead: if a company is engaged in incredibly important scientific research, that company should not engage in Jordan Belfort-like schemes.
Let’s just keep in mind that if the allegations are correct, this company was basically trying to steal other people’s money.
Financial lyes are one thing, but if a company like ACT was experimenting with LSD to furthur its work, I hope the regulators would see their way clear to turning a blind eye.
I can understand why they’d be leary of such a solution, but it could really open some doors and result in a very powerful gambit. Who knows?
Uhm, no, I don’t “know” that. You are making an assertion that it’s true, and are expecting us to validate your CT. Nope, not going to do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.