CEO Options... shareholder options., page-14

Windy,

I don’t agree with all your points, but I understand your perspective. Early stage companies need money to operate and that always comes at a cost to those who are already invested – its simply a fact of life in biotech. 3 years on, VLA has enough cash to generate meaningful data to take to prospective partners, something they have not really had until recently.

As a bio stock, VLA is inherently speculative and is recovering its reputation from being regarded as one of the dodgiest operations going round the ASX. Big companies are very sceptical of unsubstantiated claims from piddling little companies with poor track records and iffy governance – with good reason.

Dilution aside, institutions have become a proxy for big pharma. They have obviously decided that VLA has moved on and is close to delivering up good data. Partners place great stock in the opinion of institutional investors on the register.

The sp might not be stratospheric, but the Market Cap is more than double that when McColl arrived. He must be doing something right. IMO he is focused on the right mix of activities that will lead to a liquidity event. I would prefer he continued to do so rather than spend his time spruiking the co to retail investors.