Due Diligence by Michael A. Kahn Page B

things, the IND describes the drug and the human testing the company proposes to do. Accordingly, part of the due diligence is to review the pending IND applications. That will give you a sense of what the company might be able to bring to market four to six years down the road.”
    There was more. According to Bob, the due diligence should also include a review of the NDAs, or New Drug Applications, which is the final step in the FDA approval process, filed after the proposed drug has passed the human testing stage and is ready to bring to market. In addition, the due diligence should include a review of the R&D files to determine whether there are any projects or proposals that might be worth pursuing. As Bob explained, Chemitex might not have had the capital to pursue some of the concepts still stuck in R&D, while SLP has money to burn. For an information fanatic like Levesque, two months spent reviewing IND, NDA, and R&D files would be money well spent.
    I thanked Bob for his help, told him I would buy him dinner next time I was in New York, and promised to introduce him to Jacki when he came to St. Louis. I was organizing my notes when Benny returned my call. I filled him in on what I had learned that afternoon. He offered to drop by the library to try to locate the newspaper article on the Miami shooting death of the Smilow of Smilow & Sullivan.
    â€œIf I find it,” he told me, “I’ll drop it off at your house on my way home.”
    â€œBetter yet, stop in for dinner. I’ll get us some Chinese takeout.”
    â€œYou got a deal, gorgeous.”
    â€œBring your portable computer.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œBruce’s secretary made me a copy of everything off the hard drive of his computer. I’m sending a messenger down to pick up the disks. Maybe the answer is on one of those disks.”

Chapter Eight
    Benny leaned back and rolled his eyes in ecstasy. “Oh, God, that’s good.”
    I winked. “What did 1 tell you?”
    â€œWhat’s it called?” he asked.
    â€œKung Pao Squid. Try the Fresh Clam with Ma-La Sauce.” I slid the white take-out carton toward him. “It’s even better than the squid.” Using my chopsticks, I leaned over and lifted out a squid. I popped it in my mouth and chewed slowly, savoring the tastes.
    â€œWhere is this place?” he asked.
    â€œIn Olivette. Across from the bowling alley.”
    I watched as Benny spooned some of the Fresh Clam with Ma-La Sauce onto his plate. We were having dinner at my house. Benny shoveled in a mouthful, chewed for a bit, and gave me a look of appreciation.
    â€œGood, eh?” I said.
    He swallowed and nodded. “Excellent find, dude.”
    â€œI take that as a compliment,” I said with a tolerant smile, “even though it comes from a man whose idea of a great Oriental experience involves a set of pulleys and a heavily sedated JAL stewardess.”
    â€œA man can dream, can’t he, Miss Gold?”
    Ozzie sat in the corner of the kitchen, intently watching us eat. He was a big fan of Chinese food. Although he preferred Cantonese over Szechuan style, I was sure he wouldn’t let provinces get in the way of leftovers.
    I took a sip of beer and glanced down again at the copy of the newspaper article Benny had brought with him. It had appeared on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch almost two years ago, under the headline:
    ST. LOUIS ENGINEER KILLED
IN MIAMI CROSS-FIRE WHILE
WALKING BACK TO HOTEL AFTER DINNER
    The article described the shooting death of Milton Smilow, one of the name partners of Smilow & Sullivan.
    â€œI don’t like it,” I said.
    â€œWhat’s not to like?” Benny asked as he twisted off the cap of another Dixie beer.
    â€œIt says here that Hiram Sullivan was with him in Miami up until the shooting.”
    â€œSo what?” Benny leaned over, scanned the article upside down. He pointed to a paragraph in the middle