0:00
I'm very pleased to be out another asset to the portfolio, which is funded and being developed,
0:06
but our total focus has not been diverted one eye-ota in pushing forward those licensed
0:12
discussions with P140, and I'm very, very confident we will deliver that deal.
0:19
Hello, you're watching Proactive. I'm joined in the studio by Tim McCarthy, the CEO of Emure Farmer.
0:25
Tim, very nice to have you in the studio again. It's nice to be back, Steve.
0:28
General New Means, I've got something to talk about, so. Well, exact.
0:31
Lost to talk about because you had an update on P140, a positive update.
0:35
You also have a new development program, Capy Gluckagon, and a fundraiser. So,
0:39
take us through the highlights of today's news because it seems there's a lot going on.
0:43
There's an awful lot going on actually, so maybe I can just frame it for our discussion today.
0:49
If I give you some brief highlights and then we can go into each one in a bit more detail.
0:54
The first thing I want to say is P140 is our focus, and I don't want whatever we put out today
1:01
in our RS to take away from that, and that's why we were keen to emphasize that things
1:08
are progression on P140. We've still got the objective of completing the deal this year,
1:14
and we're doing very well on that, and I'll come back and talk a little bit more about that.
1:17
The second thing is we have really quite unexpectedly had the opportunity to bring one of our
1:27
other programs in Portfolio. We haven't talked about a lot, a program called Capy Gluckagon.
1:33
Bring it forward into an accelerated development program, and I think I remember at least one
1:40
of our interviews in the past talking about perhaps seeing some things our portfolio come from
1:46
left field, and this is certainly one of those, and it's going to add an awful lot of value to
1:52
shareholders. And then the third highlight is to go along with the Capy Gluckagon development.
1:58
In fact, it was prompted by the fact that we were quite unexpectedly offered funding by a number
2:06
of our long-standing shareholders, and that's what's led to the funding that we announced today,
2:11
led by Lancet Capital. So again, I'll talk a little bit more about each of those, or those
2:17
are the highlights. Well, let's start with P140, because when you were in last time, we talked about
2:22
partnering discussions. Where are you with those partnering discussions, Tim?
2:27
Yeah, we're doing very well, actually, and again, I want to emphasize to everybody listening today
2:31
that whatever we put out in the announcement today doesn't take away from our work on
2:36
those licensing discussions. We're very busy. We've got a discussion going with a number of
2:42
potential partners, and in fact, I believe the last time that I was in the studio here with
2:47
you, Stephen, it was November, and given you an update on an RNS then. And since November,
2:54
we've actually engaged with some new potential partners that have approached us,
2:58
and are interested in P140, so it's a very, very active area. We are determined to find the
3:04
right deal, the deal structure for shareholders, and for P140 itself, because clearly we want to
3:10
progress P140 in its later stages to development. And that is absolutely our focus.
3:17
We have said that we are delivering a deal this year. We're confident of doing that, and I just
3:24
want to make sure everyone understands that, and that the fact that we've had a quite unexpected
3:30
opportunity to develop Cappy Glukugon, quite separately, doesn't take away from P140 at all.
3:36
In fact, it adds to the whole portfolio of the company, and adds real value to your help.
3:42
Okay, so a very clear message on P140, Tim. Getting onto Cappy Glukugon, you say it's come left
3:47
field. Tell us more about it, and also the associated fundraising, please. Of course.
3:54
It's important to say it hasn't exactly gone from left field for us.
4:00
But let me just go back to the fundraising again, because this is one that wasn't something that
4:07
we were expecting to do, and I've been very clear in previous interviews and announcements that
4:12
we were not going to go out and look for further funding whilst we were conducting our
4:18
licensing discussion on P140. That in itself remained the case. However, quite unexpectedly,
4:26
in a few weeks ago, we got a number of approaches from some of our longstanding shareholders,
4:33
who continually see the undervaluation of the company, and they have money which they want to
4:42
put in our disposal, and they approached us to say, look, I know you're working hard on P140,
4:48
and that will bring its own value for shareholders. However, we're keen that we can help you to build
4:54
your company, and I'm determined so as the team to build long-term value for shareholders,
5:00
it's not all about P140, it doesn't have to be all about P140, although that is a major value
5:06
driver, clearly. So when we're approached to say, look, we want to support you, we want to support
5:14
the building of your portfolio, which is always going to be good for shareholders,
5:18
have you got an asset in your portfolio, which we could fund, and so quite separately for anything
5:24
else you're doing, so it doesn't disturb anything else. So we had a very sort of long thought about
5:30
this on two fronts, Stephen one, is there a particular asset, which we could identify and could add
5:39
value in relatively short order, but also taken into very serious consideration that we had said
5:46
quite clearly before that we weren't going to raise money, so it wasn't a decision we made overnight,
5:51
and I'm very aware of what I have said previously, so I don't want shareholders to take the wrong
5:56
message here. We have specifically raised the money to develop Capigluckagon, and Capigluckagon
6:04
is in the area of Type 1 diabetes, which I'll go on to talk about a little bit more in a moment,
6:09
but it's a development asset which has been in the company for a while, it was discovered
6:16
by our R&D team, led by Sebastian Guru, our CSO, in 217, patented in 218, so it's got a very,
6:26
very good patent life, so running to 2038 with the potential for further patent extensions,
6:32
and the way that the programmer is, I'll describe in a little bit more, it has the ability to go
6:39
through a particular regulatory pathway called 505B2, which is an accelerated development process,
6:47
so what we presented to those shareholders when they asked us for an idea to fund,
6:53
it was very much an accelerated program for Capigluckagon for approximately a couple of years,
7:00
and we secured the cornerstone funding for that through Lancet or as I think you will remember
7:07
are a longstanding shareholder, and this will be the eighth deal that we're doing with Lancet or
7:11
a ten-year period, and the six million they've committed very much is their largest single investment
7:19
in the company, so I think that says an awful lot about their confidence in the company and
7:23
this particular asset, and we've also opened it up to a RAP, Windfludge Retail Access Platform,
7:32
which I'm sure a lot of you viewers will be familiar with, so that also gives the opportunity
7:36
for all other shareholders, apart from Lancet, to participate in the RAP over the next two or three days,
7:42
so it was opened this morning, and that includes other shareholders that did also express
7:49
an interest to invest in a new asset, so we're covering them in both ways.
7:55
So let me just come back to Capigluckagon. It's a really interesting asset, as I say,
8:02
discovered by the team a few years ago, over the intervening period, they've been doing quite a
8:07
little pre-clinical work and development work to bring the asset on and prove the principle,
8:14
if you like, and this new two-year program is to take it the one step further, along that certainly
8:21
at the end of that two-year program, which will include a little clinical study, we will have
8:27
everything we need to take it next step further to potential licensing partners,
8:34
and we've already talked to the leading players in this area, which I'll go on to describe
8:39
a little more in a moment, and they've all expressed a very strong interest in what we do in
8:45
Capigluckagon, because it's quite unique in its own way. So we know that we've got potential
8:52
ready partners waiting, probably 18 months to years out from where we are now, so that's a nice
8:57
sort of target to aim for. So let's take a step back. We're talking about treatment in the
9:04
air of Type 1 diabetes, so I'm sure a lot of reviews will understand there are two types of diabetes,
9:10
Type 1, Type 2. Type 1 are patients that are born with the disease, and they have to manage it
9:19
from very early in their lives all the way through. Type 2 diabetes are those patients that
9:25
develop the disease, generally through lifestyle, obesity, for example, is a main cause of type 2
9:33
diabetes. But if we go back to Type 1 diabetes, so patients all through their life have to constantly
9:41
monitor their blood glucose levels, obviously diabetes does play havoc with those, and they can
9:49
rise, they can fall. And if we go back in a number of years, traditionally, each patient would have
9:56
to take a little pin prick, get a blood sample, and put it into a measure, and see what their
10:01
levels are. And then, generally speaking, if their blood glucose levels were spiking, they'd
10:07
have to take some insulin to bring them down. And then on occasions, if they went too low, they
10:13
would need glucose to bring their levels back up. And it's a very, very difficult balance,
10:20
especially when you're doing it manually. It's not that accurate. It's very difficult to manage
10:25
practically on a day-to-day basis. And there are very serious long-term health consequences for
10:32
diabetes when they don't get their blood glucose levels normal and stable. And it's
10:38
virtually impossible when you're doing it that way. So over recent years, what has come into
10:45
development are automated systems. So if you can imagine a little monitor, which patients will
10:54
probably wear on their belt or on their abdomen somewhere, these automatically measure a patient's
11:02
blood glucose levels. And these days, they're all controlled through an app on your phone or
11:07
something similar. So you don't need to worry about every so often measuring yourself. It's a
11:13
constant measurement. And alongside them, they have a little container, which has insulin in it,
11:22
like a little reservoir, if you like. And whenever the little monitor detects that you need a
11:30
little shot of insulin, it will give you a little shot. And it's accurate in the sense that it
11:36
knows how much to give you and when to give you. So you really don't need to do anything at all.
11:41
And a lot of these things now have become quite small. They're quite easy for people to wear.
11:47
They've even become waterproof so that you can take them in the shower, go swimming. And that's
11:53
actually important in terms of people's day-to-day lives, especially if they're doing a lot of sport
11:57
or swimming and that sort of thing. So it's come on a long way to the benefit of those
12:04
diabetics, type 1 diabetics. The missing piece is the glucose side. So they're very sophisticated
12:13
these machines now, these devices. And so the insulin side of it is taken care of. But there are
12:20
occasions when the blood glucose levels go too low and you've got to bring that you've
12:25
got to have an injection of glucose. And we're still in the air of manual injection, which
12:31
you know goes back quite a long time when everyone's doing that for incident. Now what a lot of
12:39
the leading players are doing are developing dual hormone automatic pumps. So in other words,
12:45
they'll have the monitor, they'll have a reservoir with insulin, they'll have a reservoir with
12:49
glucose. Now you might think, well, that's fantastic because the monitor will measure the levels,
12:55
it can either inject insulin or inject glucose. Fantastic. And that makes it even easier and more
13:02
manageable for those patients. The problem with the current formats of glucose is the way they are
13:09
constructed, they're very insoluble. And what we're talking about is when insulin is injected,
13:18
it's done almost seamlessly, but it's either through a very, very thin tube or a needle of some kind.
13:27
And the current forms of glucose gone tend to clog up the devices. So they're having real problems
13:32
in developing dual hormone pumps for use for patients just because of the problems of glucose.
13:39
Now what Sebastian and his team discovered with Campy Glucic Gone was a very natural form.
13:47
We are a peptide based company, so it's a peptide derivative. Without going into the details
13:52
of the science with you, what we've already been able to prove is that it's very soluble,
13:59
it won't clog, it will stay stable for in a longer period of time. And that's exactly what
14:07
these manufacturers of the devices are looking for, which I go back to what I was saying before
14:12
about, we've already had conversations with these guys. They're very excited about what we
14:18
can do with this because it's going to be a whole new market for them. And we're talking about
14:23
a very valuable market. I mean, we're talking to multi-billions in terms of potential for
14:28
Campy Glucone itself. And it's going into a market which for lots of different reasons is growing
14:34
in terms of prevalence and diagnosis and everything else. So the fact that we could identify that
14:40
in our portfolio when we were approached to say, look, do you have an asset which you can add real
14:46
value relatively quickly for a relatively small amount of money in sort of pharmaceutical development
14:53
terms? Campy Glucone ticked all those boxes and we presented it to those that were interested
15:00
at the same that approached us and they were delighted actually that we had something, they
15:05
weren't expecting us to have something that sort of as I say ticked all those boxes.
15:10
So that was the driver behind the fundraising. The fundraisers have been done purely to fund
15:18
that developed Campy Glucone. And I say because we're going through that particular FDA
15:24
accelerated regulatory pathway, we can see the steps that we're going to do. That also means that
15:32
there is regular news flow coming up from the Campy Glucone program. I mean, we'll be starting
15:37
very shortly. We'll probably be putting out regular quarterly updates. So in a company like ours,
15:44
new flow is what everybody is looking for clearly. So that will help generally in terms of our profile,
15:52
our valuation, hopefully in terms of Champ Rysed Appreciation.
15:57
And that comes back to the funding for landstead. We've had a number of landstead deals now.
16:05
We've gained with some of them. We've not done very well on others. And generally the correlation
16:10
there is down to positive news flow. And if you look at the last deal we had with landstead,
16:16
which is completed last year, that was during the period we announced the new patent on P 140
16:23
and the share price had a very, very good uplift. And we ended up in advance on that program.
16:29
In other words, we earned more money out of that that was originally committed. And I emphasize
16:34
without any further dilution. But that is what a positive share price depreciation does. So
16:40
we're very confident now of that landstead range, because we know we've got P 140 news coming up,
16:46
which everyone is waiting for. And I'm waiting to announce it. And obviously positive news flow
16:52
on this Campy Glucone program. And I'll say again, we're building a business here. And to me,
16:59
it's an ideal opportunity to be able to broaden the portfolio, put a little bit more breadth
17:05
in that portfolio and do something proactively with a very, very good asset.
17:12
Well, it looks like you're going to be visiting our studio a lot more to him. And before we go,
17:15
any final message for proactive viewers, but also for your investors watching this?
17:21
Yeah, I think I go back to the headline that the one thing that I want to emphasize,
17:27
anything that we have announced today on Campy Glucone Funding is absolutely nothing
17:34
related to P 140. We are dedicated to P 140. It is our main driver, may value driver.
17:41
It's the leading program in the company and it's what we're known for. I'm very pleased to be
17:46
out another asset to the portfolio, which is funded and being developed. But our total focus has
17:53
not been diverted. One Iota in pushing forward those licensed discussions with P 140.
17:59
And I'm very, very confident we will deliver that deal. And I can say that because I'm obviously on
18:05
one side of the table talking to these potential partners. And so it's very good news. I'm
18:12
extremely delighted on both P 140 and how those discussions are going. But also the fact that
18:18
we've got the confidence of, you know, our major shareholders to develop a sex
18:23
asset. And it can only lead to incremental value for shareholders in the medium term.
18:31
So thank you very much for coming through to explain all that. You're very welcome.
18:34
It's in the quality of the CEO of MU Farmer.