I regularly pass by a construction site and note the progress...

I regularly pass by a construction site and note the progress seems to go in fits and starts. For ages there seemed to be much activity but no apparent progress. Obviously there’s a huge amount of work in preparation and infrastructure that goes unseen to the casual observer. Then all of a sudden, walls start shooting up almost overnight. Mess up the basic groundwork and the building will collapse or not get occupancy approval. (See also Dendreon).

It got me pondering on what PRR are attempting to achieve, the patience needed waiting on CAN003 results and the apparent slow pace in patient recruitment for CAN004.

The Korean announcement is something of a case in point. PRR has previously discussed the “controlled rollout” of new trial sites. This involves finding the right medical/collection facilities, the right oncologist and training them to correctly screen and process the patients for the trial. Then they have to obtain the requisite local authority approval to commence recruiting. Finally they can start identifying patients who might qualify for inclusion. Screening and randomisation alone takes up to 8 weeks.

The recruitment and treatment phase of the clinical trials is the most expensive and cash intensive process for the company, so if it’s not done at the right pace and time, money goes down the gurgler.

I’m prepared to go out on a limb with the theory that the board has been taking a measured and prudent approach to ramping up CAN004 recruiting until their confidence on certain issues was reinforced.

Firstly cash in hand was roughly $30 million prior to the last 2 private placements. They added just short of $5 million to the kitty, so there’s approx $35 million in cash (plus the government grant reimbursements that come through later). Board would have wanted to be certain they had the funds to kick CANVAS off without straining operating cashflow. Sorted!

They’d also be prudent to not over-commit until Phase 2b and ICS results have shown a strong indication of proof of concept and efficacy. We’ll know that in a matter of weeks.

Those are our foundations. As soon as the council inspector ticks them off, we should see significant advances in the pace of completing the remaining trial site accreditation and patient enrolment. I reckon that’s when Mr Market will “wakey, wakey”.