Allan Kohler interview with Otto Buttula

Good to see a thorough interview with Otto. It appears that recent 'messy' happenings have been a catalyst for positive changes.

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Here are my key takeaways -

-The company has taken a necessary change of direction in light of TGA approval hurdles.

-There is now a much stronger focus on commercial outcomes, in particular, private sector deals. The aim is to see first revenues by December. This seems to be a more realistic inroad than massive government deals in the medium term.

-Former CEO Glenn Gilbert was instrumental in the clinical trial phase, honing down the CSIRO biomarker panel, and gaining patents. He oversaw the TGA application which ultimately included errors, all of which can be corrected in a new application.

-Major shareholder and Executive Director Otto Buttula have a proven track record of assisting businesses to commercialise. He is no doubt more experienced in this regard than the former CEO.

-The company has improved its executive team, over the last 12-8 months to include a range of specialised commercialisation skillsets.

-Fortunately, additional clinical trials are not required by TGA, however, more internal testing of the device is necessary.

-The new focus is to commercialise in overseas jurisdictions where approvals for Colostat have already been achieved.

-The share price has been hammered, perhaps caused primarily by short-term traders. The top 100 shareholders are holding firm.

-Otto visited the US recently to work with their US manufacturer there. He is rightly prioritising essential production capacity and logistics.

-With regard to competition in the space, even if another lab were to make a similar discovery (one which has taken CSIRO/Rhythm 20 years total), expensive royalties to the lab may well stand in the way of commercialisation. Rhythm owns the technology, the royalties due to CSIRO are very minimal.