@MrOctane,
You raise interesting point which, I think, relates to the effectiveness of a company's directors and executives.
Because if what you are arguing is the case (and I'm not saying it is), then it becomes incumbent on the executives of companies to make sure they don't place their companies in a position whereby the activities of external parties
[*] are able to structurally impair the value of those companies. It forms part of standard corporate risk management and strategic planning via scenario analysis.
And MSB's management knows this, because it - several years ago - from time to time pointed to the merit of the company's then-significant cash balance, stating that it was important for long-lead biotechs to be always adequately cashed up so that they were not vulnerable to funding risks, and the potential for short-sellers to target the company.
Trouble is, somewhere along the way MSB's management seems to have forgotten its own advice.
Maybe they should have accepted one or two of those many partnership deals from which some people say they have been walking away.
Summary: If company directors want to avoid their business from coming to harm, then the strategic solution is simple: Don't position the business in harm's way. That is, after all, why they are paid the very big biscuits.
If I thought that a company in which I was a shareholder was being systematically "targeted" by short-selling (i.e., if it was not simply related to fundamental over-valuation), then I'd strongly petition my company's directors/management to urgently remedy the reason(s) for such short-selling. For directors/management are accountable for appropriately managing business risk; it's explicitly stated in their job descriptions.
[*] Not just external parties such as market participants, but all external parties... competitors, suppliers, customers, regulators. And not just external parties, either; even internal parties as well such as the company's own management and employees, as well.
As I said: standard corporate risk management: if short sellers are deemed to present a fundamental business risk, then make sure you don't give the short-sellers any reason to do so in your stock. Quite elementary.
