Edit - replying to @IndexInvestor above, the reply seems broken...

Edit - replying to @IndexInvestor above, the reply seems broken for me at the moment.

From the at Advonate web site:The EMD AML trial expansion into Europe was announced on 8 June 2022 (5 months ago). Race don't have a European team, so I'm speculating, but looking at what their expertise is, it would make sense that Advonate Clinical was engaged by Race around this time. Actually, I'd say likely they were engaged even earlier as Race would probably have started work on this expansion prior to the announcement. There's no doubt a huge amount of work to navigate through the European regulatory structure and no way David could do all of this himself as well as concurrently working on the Australian EMD and other upcoming trials. Advonate (on paper) look to be the ideal outfit Race would engage to help the clinical team get the European trial expansion up and running. If that's the case, Ajay may have been getting up to speed on the topics you mention, as well as possibly being in the drivers seat for the European trial expansion, for the last 6 months or more.

In regards to recruiting a new CMO, by the time you advertise, wait for applicants, conduct interviews, discuss and rank front-runners, negotiate offers, etc., three months (assuming David gave 3 months notice as per his contract and not more) is barely enough time to complete recruitment unless the ideal candidate drops right into your lap. Once they do find someone, yes, they'll no doubt have a ramp-up period, but Ajay and Advonate would likely still be around during (and probably well after) this transition. That's one of the advantages of using a consultancy.

Also from the Advonate web site:

So it looks like it's not necessarily an unusual thing that some of these high level roles can be filled by consultants, especially in smaller companies.

Conclusion: This change may not be ideal, but may not be as disruptive as it seems on first glance.