Hi Wazza, I think that is where PAR management have had it...

Hi Wazza, I think that is where PAR management have had it right, and some PAR investors (myself included) had it wrong. We saw (some still see) regional deals as a requirement to get the trials done. The thinking is logical: Regional deal > LO's in the money > funds pouring in for trials.

However, when you think about it, that's far too flimsy a pathway for a Board of Directors to rely on.

No, their intention all along seems to have been to do the best financing deal they can find to take the trials to Interim Analysis, and take that whole issue off the table entirely in one move. At the recent EGM Paul gave some very strong hints that the company has come up with a solution in the background, which isn't ready to be announced yet - but one which will fund the trials to IA. Everyone can speculate what that will look like. However, we can all surely see the benefits of taking that whole issue off the table, even if that comes with dilution.

Then, with finance secures - and as you suggest - they still have scope to engage regional partnerships with the promise of a fully funded trial. The combination of full funding to IA, a convincing case of the high probability of IA success (soon, we are to believe, to be expressed in a Phase 3 trial webinar), and any regional deals on top by end of 2025, gives the LO's a red hot chance of being in the money. PAR could then be well funded beyond IA, putting us in a position of some negotiating strength when key territorial (US/Europe) rights are up for sale.