At least you are honest about your lack of knowledge; you presume wrong when you say that "I doubt anyone on this board does" understand what the IP is offering. Proteome Sciences has IP in several different quarters; Platform technology RNA transcription Intronn, validated panels of biomarkers in disease areas of unmet need Cobham, Veri-Q oligo purification US and isobaric tagging Frankfurt, being the main areas.
The IP is being used; PRM have a number of pilot studies with industry, have had for some time; One of their pilot studies was 5 years ago. The pilot studies lead to commercial contracts once both parties can assess how valuable their individual contributions are. It's a new subject for big pharma and for PRM scientists to work alongside big pharma chemistry experts in hitting drug targets; it takes time, but waiting leads to bigger and better deals.
They also use their proprietary IP all the time to find, validate and patent new biomarkers and new reagents.
You are right about one thing and that's the people who you look to on the bb do know very little about the IP and this is the reason they are bears and not bulls. Having said that one or two have recently been won over.