Ann: Interim Report 3 Months to 30 September 2017, page-2

Nothing really new here, and why would there be? Just confirmation of what we already suspected, that the AMD program is not going smoothly. This is part and parcel of being a very small biotech company. We simply don't have sufficient funds to tackle roadblocks when they arise. We don't know the nature of the setback with AMD but it may well be that the roadblock could be removed if we had more cash to put into the research. But we don't, so the next best thing is to put our limited funds on shorter priced odds candidates.

I have previously said that this re-prioritising is a good strategy and one that previous management would not have implemented. That said, here is our dilemma, where will the funds come from to keep Benitec afloat? Licensing fees won't keep us going. We don't want to partner on OPMD (if we can help it). HNSCC is going to cost most of our current cash. Nant has been reluctant to put in non-dilutive capital. Spark may not want us if the AMD program is not sufficiently advanced to make it ready for the clinic any time soon. So, will new and existing shareholders be willing to bet on OPMD and sufficiently so the get us to commercialisation in 5 years time?

We may prefer to develop OMMD ourselves but the reality is we will probably have to find a partner because we won't get enough cash from any other source of funding. An alternative is for our new Chairman to convince his bosses at Nant to cough up non-dilutive cash for a greater share of HNSCC royalties.