Who is selling these cheap clinical trial puts?

Who would sell them ?
Outright speculators.
Delta neutral traders hoping to capture volatility and remain neutral - probably means over hedging because it impossible to account for a gap down hedging with stock.
Ratio traders and that would depend on the volatility across strikes and expirations - this is probably where a good part of the open interest - if there is any - comes from.
Fundamental accounts that would acquire the stock at that net price.

Yea I agree with regards to speculation. For these events, it's really hard to get an estimate of how big the gap will be without looking at company fundamentals and past clinical data for the drug. Vol itself is not going to cut it.

Counterparty in the US is OCC.

Thanks for clarifying, I live in Canada. :D
 
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