Making Money from Pigs - Part 2

In December I wrote about Questor Pharmaceutical, a company that has converted a $100,000 purchase of a drug in 2001 to a $4 billion valuation of the company. Much of the increase in valuation was attributed to two things - increasing the price of the drug (which incidentally is made from the pituitary glands of slaughtered pigs) from $50 to $28,000 and changing the marketing from that of a rare infant disease to multiple sclerosis patients and for adults suffering from nephrotic syndrome and rheumatologic conditions.  

The president, Don Bailey, is probably a pretty sharp guy. Like many CEOs of public companies he has a plan by which he sells company stock in the middle of each month so he avoids any appearance of trading on inside information. Jesse Eisinger has noticed that at least six times over the last ten months Questor has issued a news release which reports good news and drives the stick price up. The news release comes out mid-month and Mr. Bailey sells his stock, usually at the stock's highest point in the month.

Coincidence?