source: http://www.newsobserver.com/business/sto...

Part One

Pozen CEO John Plachetka built a successful business based on finding largerpartners such as GlaxoSmithKline to make and market his company's medicines. But after 13 years, he's had a change of heart. Such partnerships reduce risks & cost less in the short term but require Pozen to hand over millions of dollars when drugs are successful. Plachetka thinks they also weigh down Pozen's value on Wall Street. Plachetka will abandon the model he's stuck with since he founded the small Chapel Hill drugmaker in 1996.

Instead, Pozen will keep the rights to a new drug it's developing and do its own marketing. That will allow the company to earn more money if the drug wins regulatory approval in a few years & help unlock Pozen's true value, Plachetka said. "We think the greatest thing we can do is control our own destiny," he said.

Plachetka is driven partly by frustration that Pozen is undervalued by Wall Street. The company made money in the third quarter, has a migraine drug approved for patients and an arthritis treatment with regulatory approval pending. But its stock is down more than 50 percent from the $15 at which its shares began trading publicly nine years ago. Pozen shares rose 24 cents Thurs to $5.91. It will take some time to prove to investors that the new strategy is smart, Plachetka says.

He points to another local drug company, Salix Pharmaceuticals, which uses its own sales team to market medicines. Wall Street puts a value on Salix that is two to three times what Pozen is worth, Plachetka said. "What seems to really drive the valuation of some companies is owning their own assets," he said. "There are investors that want what we're going to be."