Interesting, page-4318

Hi all

I had a very enlightening phone conversation today with Geoff Hollis (CFO of IBX). Geoff has been great answering my emails and suggested we have a chat which ended up being a 20 minute phone call.

Regarding the selection of sites and the delays thus far:

What we have to understand is there is actually a lot more involved in the process of suitable site selection for the trials and the process of engaging with the best consultants/advisers to ensure that the selected site is ready, willing and able to conduct the study as planned.

Geoff couldn’t go into details about the third site but it sounded like securing Austin Health as the second site was a significant challenge in itself, hence the delay.

The reasons for it being a challenge is not something the company could have predicted when embarking on a clinical study for the very first time.

My understanding is that the investigators recruited for the Monash Health site had advised the company that the recruitment of the required number of eligible patients for the trial will not be difficult to achieve nor will it take as long to recruit eligible participants than it has thus far.

The company has now engaged consultants and advisers who are thinking ‘outside the box’ in terms of patient recruitment. It's likely that all out of pocket medical expenses will be covered by the company. I certainly feel a lot more confident that the ‘safety aspect’ of the trial might be completed sooner than some people might think.

Regarding the last capital raise and use of funds:

One of my major concerns was the use of the funds from the November capital raise. I was querying why the funds were needed and how those funds were being used to ‘Accelerate Development Plans’ as announced by the company at the time of the raise.

Given only ~$500K was expended on R&D in the last quarter, it left me questioning why the $6 mil was required particularly as the company initially proceeded with only the one site to conduct the study, which in my mind didn’t fit with their intent to ‘Accelerate Development Plans’.

Geoff was quick to point out that there is a lot more work going on in the background than shareholders are privy to and funds were being used to prepare for the larger study.

From what Geoff was saying, ongoing preparations for the larger study are running in parallel to the phase one study. Geoff expects R&D expenditure to ramp up in Q3 and Q4 CY21 when the larger invoices start coming through for the larger pivotal study.

He went on to explain that had the $6mil not been raised in November, there was the possibility of a capital raise half way through 2021 to cover the increasing expenditure to prepare for the larger pivotal study and to ensure enough cash on the runway to cover at least 2 quarters. Given where the share price is today, the decision to raise at 8.5 cents in November appears to have been justified.

Geoff was reluctant to share his views on the heavy sell off but I gathered he thought it was an overreaction from the market and given more than a third of the registry had turned over due to a ‘delay’.

He commented on the heavy retail presence in the registry and suggested there is maybe a lack of institutional backing in the stock at this stage. He expects the door will open to more institutional backing once the phase one study is completed and the first lot of data is announced to market. He sounded pretty confident to me.

Geoff has only been with the company a short period of time, so he probably knows most of our frustrations are not aimed directly at him, meaning he can only pass on his opinion on why certain decisions were made in the past. It made for quite a fascinating and candid discussion from my perspective and I certainly get the impression that Geoff has been a valuable appointment for the company to move forwards.

He confirmed that he does read Hot Copper so they are well aware of the general disappointment and the increasing criticism aimed towards Bob and the company. No one is more disappointed and frustrated than Bob himself and Bob and co are doing everything they can to get the trials completed within the shortest time frame possible.

Full Disclosure, I have taken a 6 figure haircut over the past few weeks but I’m not selling a single share as I firmly believe in the tech and still fully expect big things for shareholders in 2021.

Good luck everyone.