I disagree. It is not that "these sorts of companies" don't need...

I disagree. It is not that "these sorts of companies" don't need constant news it is more that most of them have little choice but to traverse the valley of death. In this biotech valley of death news flow typically dries up, investors drift away, funding runs out and many worthwhile ideas whither. This is probably the biggest problem facing the sector and there are lots of really bright people working hard at finding ways to negate this medtech valley of death. But it is a hard nut to crack, which is why it has become normalised that pre-revenue medtechs don't "need" constant news flow. But they do! At least if they want funding, they do.

One tactic that miners adopt to carry them across their own version of the valley of death is to have several projects at varying stages of progress so when one project ebbs through their feasibility study stages other projects can be flowing with news and hopium. Much harder for medtech of course, partly because Aussie miners are fearless and will brag about drilling pretty much anywhere while Australian medical research commercialisers seem far more conservative.

In my view Microba is quite unusual for a medtech tiddler in that while it does have some never never clinical study prospects which dont currently generate a steady news flow it is NOT pre-revenue. In fact going on what the company says they are positioning their ready-for-market products in a high growth high margin global niche. That being the case they should be pounding out a steady cadence of news updates. When they go quiet for over a month it does look like they are not getting the traction they were expecting in that high growth, high margin market. FWIW I would bet that Sonic did not invest in Microba for its clinical studies.