I'd say a partner in early 2022 is very optimistic... although Jen's connections will open doors... that's a long stretch from actually partnering up. I recall Jen laughing at the suggestion they were talking to partners for the NK platform already... and PH said publicly many times that the CLTX CAR T is not likely to partner up until the full phase 1 read out which is likely to be sometime in 2023.
Yes slide 7 showing artiva and shoreline partnering up with preclinical and phase 1 non-engineered NK cell platforms are a case in point for your scenario of a partner in early 2022. But I suspect those would have been at least several months of discussions leading up to a deal, and probably should be considered as the exception (possible/remote) rather than the norm (probable/likely).
To garner big pharma attention, I think we have something to differentiate ourselves in the engineered NK space... I can't see a big pharma interested in partnering up on the original CORE-NK product, when we are developing engineered/enhanced versions of it and taking those into the clinic... but we need to develop those first (see slide below) and that may well propel us to a partnership at a global scale once they are developed. Obviously I hope I am wrong, but from my experience, a traditional capital raising for an early stage biotech is what I would say probable and likely... and not something I'd consider a negative, rather a normal course of business for a company like CHM.
If retail shareholders are involved, that's great .. some free options would be a nice sweetener (though I don't think it will be the case). And for this reason I suspect many are not filling up on shares right now.. in case there is a cap raise in the future where we can grab some at a discount and avoid diluting our original holding.
(20min delay)