Out of all the serious issues we bring up in this report, Enochian Biosciences (ENOB) contacted Seeking Alpha to say they only have one dispute (so far) with this report regarding our statement that their claimed value for their intellectual property (IP) is “an artificial price set by the company”. We believe there are much more serious issues to be discussed in the report, such as figuring out the actual value of the IP. We believe the discussion we are having here is one of semantics.
Since they didn’t mention anything about our damning research against their lead “scientist” and inventor of the IP, Serhat Gumrukcu, we’ll assume that everything we posted about him is accurate. This includes our research that he appears to not have earned an MD or PHD designation anywhere despite the company’s claim in their investor presentation, and that he is a convicted criminal.
The following is Enochian’s dispute followed by our response:
Enochian’s Dispute:
Enochian’s HIV drug IP is pre-clinical, which according to Investopedia “is usually assigned zero value” has no published data anywhere that we have found. It was created by Serhat, who is a convicted criminal with apparently no biotechnology experience. Furthermore, the HIV drug pipeline is not even patented yet, so there were no patents sold. We believe this IP is worthless, however, the company claims it’s worth $154.5M as shown on its balance sheet.
First, the company paid for the IP with illiquid shares from its shell company that had minimal assets after its cancer vaccine failed. There was no cash used to purchase this IP. So the company could claim it’s worth $10B if it wanted to, the shares can be worth whatever they say it is. If the company had value when the shares were given for the IP, then that would be a more accurate and realistic determination of the value of the IP. For example, take a company like Pfizer (PFE), with a solid, real-world share value based on real assets, its shares are currently worth about $37 apiece. If Pfizer paid for an IP with 1 million shares, then we could accurately value the IP at $37M.
The company claims that the price was based on the advice of an “independent valuation specialist”, so therefore the price isn’t “artificial”. First, that specialist was not independent. As stated in ENOB’s recent 10-K:
“The Company retained a valuation specialist to advise management in the determination of the fair value of the various assets acquired and liabilities assumed.”
As stated above the company “retained” the specialist, meaning that they paid for the services. Being paid means the specialist is not independent as it’s in their best interest to advise a high valuation to satisfy their customer, Enochian. Notice the word “independent” is not used in the 10-K to describe this specialist.
It says that the specialist only “advised” management in the determination of the fair value. Therefore, management is the one that ultimately determined the value, not the specialist.
We also don’t see this specialist’s valuation report posted anywhere publicly.
The company claims that further evidence that the valuation is accurate is because the company’s accountant signed off on it. We are not claiming that this valuation was done in an illegal fashion or violated accounting standards. But it was subjective based on the company’s opinion. As we have shown above, management was the one who ultimately determined the value of the IP.