It was 1999 and I had just purchased my first equity on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX); 1,000 Biota Holdings (BTA) at $4.22 a share. The stock had fallen heavily after a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee (AdCom) had recommended the FDA issue GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) a “Not Approvable” letter for its influenza drug, zanamivir (Relenza). GSK had licensed zanamivir from Biota in 1990 and Biota would receive a windfall should this blockbuster drug make it to market, or so we believed.
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