The question is, and it is a legitimate question to ask, if Ariad decides to do a registration trial without a partner for 534, how do they fund it? The answer is they will have to raise additional funding. It is almost unbelievable to think that they can not find a partner for the 534. Harvey was slower than molasses in winter in Vermont in landing Merck to partner with def. I am guessing that he is not pleased with Merck's apparent tightening of the purse strings with respect to funding additional clinical trials and seeming unwillingness to reconfigure the milestone payments. As evidence that he will make decisions based on subjective whim rather than objective fact, one only has to look at the continuing costly pursuit of the legal challenge to the patent issue. Throw in the dust-up with the former board members and you begin to see how a decision to "dam the torpedos and full speed ahead " could get made with 534. No doubt it would be great to own 534 in its entirety, but reality requires that trials have to be funded. If Harvey is dead-set on going it alone, money will need to be raised and if he follows the same pattern, he will need to take advantage of news that boosts the share price. Since approval of Def by the FDA will probably be around mid 2011, assuming the NDA is submitted around the beginning of 2011, that is too far out to take advantage of presently. The only thing I see on the near horizon is the release of the full results from the 534 clinical trial. But he already used a release of the partial results to accommodate the most recent offering, so most are expecting the ASH data to confirm what we already know. For that reason, I am firmly hoping he will go all out to get a partner for 534. If the final results are as good or better than the preliminary results, big pharma should be salivating at the prospect of having a piece of this compound, and news of a partnership will increase the visibility of Ariad as a major player in the oncology arena. As the experience with Def has shown, other pharmas are also working to develop similar compounds and they have the financial resources to move their compounds forward with afterburners blasting. To successfully compete, we need deep pockets and that means a partner.