Tetra Bio-Pharma (TBP) answered questions from investors as part of an ask-me-anything (AMA) on reddit a couple of weeks ago, after reading the AMA I decided I needed to write an article addressing a few oddly worded sections. I’ve never written an article on TBP before because clinical trials are impossible to evaluate until they’re conducted. You never really know if any drug will get approval until all the trials are done and the evidence can be compiled and presented to a regulatory body (Health Canada, FDA). 

The questions being asked by investors were excellent, both diverse in nature and specific to concerns they had. The answers, when TBP didn’t choose to ignore the question, were confusing at several points. When communicating scientific topics to non-scientists it’s important to break concepts down and not overuse jargon to confuse the reader.

TBP diverts from this communication standard in their first reply:

“TBP has developed IP on the inhaled cannabinoids and the inhalation chemistry/composition of matter. TBPs data shows significant superiority over oral including metabolite profile.

Inhaled question:

Yes TBP could work with any company interested in co-developing an inhaled drug. Specially a cannabinoid chemical structure. Similarly we could license IP or technologies to the wellness market.”

‘TBP has developed IP on the inhalation of cannabinoids’, this statement alone explains what they’ve done as a pharmaceutical company investigating cannabinoids. Adding ‘and the inhalation chemistry/composition of matter’ is really odd, did they come up with a novel method for people to inhale matter? When you read the patent application it’s less sensational, they’re heating a pressed cannabis pellet to 210 ℃. The patent specifies different cannabinoids and terpenes so adding the 2nd part to that first sentence was unnecessary. They don’t even own the vaporization device being used, anyone can buy a Mighty Medic and set it to 210 ℃.

The next sentence is arguably worse in communicating to the reader what they really mean. First, they compare using the Mighty Medic to oral dosing instead of the dozens of other inhalation devices on the market (or just smoking in general), then follow up by claiming it provides a superior ‘metabolic profile’ to the oral dosage. Metabolic profile is the sum of all chemicals in a sample, in this case it could refer to the bloodstream of the patient or the inhaled chemicals from the plant. Neither example is appropriate because both depend on therapeutic benefit to the patient for either to be ‘superior’. It’s possible they have data to back this up, but it’s not clear as to why they wouldn’t just say they can demonstrate superior ‘therapeutic benefit’ which is better understood to investors than superior ‘metabolic profile’. 

The second paragraph in the above quote is just confusing, they don’t own the technology so I’m not sure how they could licence it to the wellness market. 

In addition to oddly worded statements, there were several answers that use trust as a way to avoid answering the question. These are two answers given that were particularly striking to me..

Related to operations:

“These assets made sense to us when they were initially developed, but as part of its oversight duties, management and the Board periodically review the strategic focus of Tetra, and determined, in the circumstances, that the divestiture of these assets was in the best interest of Tetra and its shareholders in the long run. These spin offs allow us to reduce our burn rate and focus on what we believe will create value for you, our investors.”

Related to financing:

“Let me ask the question: How should we finance our operations? By YE Nov 2020, cash had naturally and logically exhausted, the PP of Feb 2021 and this recent net $13M Bought deal were necessary to pursue our activities, plain and simple. We are now marching forward with ARDS-003 advancements.”

This final sentence in the above quote represents the core mentality to TBP and the pharmaceutical industry in general: try, try and try again until something works that you can make money on. Only time will tell if TBP is able to capitalize on any of their projects before running out of funds. 

The preceding is the opinion of the author, and is in no way intended to be a recommendation to buy or sell any security or derivative. The author holds no position in Tetra Bio-Pharma