Physiomics (LSE:PYC) — Interim Results

0:01 Good afternoon, and welcome to the PHYSIOMICS PLC interim results investor presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and could be dismissed at any time by the q and a tab situated at the right hand corner of your screen. Just simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives in the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today and publish responses where it's appropriate to do so. Before we begin, I'd like to submit the following poll.

0:27 I'd now like to hand you over to doctor Peter Sargent, CEO. Good afternoon to you, sir. Thank you. Hi all, and thank you for joining our investor update presentation today. So as I I think most of you will know, my name is Peter Sargent. I'm the new CEO here at, PHYSIOMICS. I'm also joined here today by Doctor. Jim Millan, who will be taking part in, the Q and A session towards the end of the meeting.

0:59 So today I'd like to provide a quick overview of business for PHYSIOMICS for those of you who are less familiar with what we do here. I'll then like to touch upon our interim results, and provide you some progress as to how we're getting on in the second half, before finishing off with providing you some more information around our strategy going forward.

1:31 So for those of you who are less familiar with PHYSIOMICS, the business is primarily a consultancy company based here in The UK, just South of Oxford, and we provide mathematical modelling and data science, services to biopharma in support of, their drug development efforts. I'll go into a bit more detail, as to how we support these companies through our core service offering, but ultimately the business has been built around three main areas of expertise and capability as you can see in this Venn diagram to the left of this slide. The first area is around quantitative pharmacology. So for those of you who are less familiar, that is looking at how drugs interact with biological systems such as within humans.

2:20 The second area is data science and biostatistics. So this is the ability to curate and analyze large and complex data sets, which is certainly important in this day with the increase, the vast increase in data being generated from R and D programs. And the third area is our deep understanding in disease biology and specifically for PHYSIOMICS around cancer biology. So now having worked on over a 100 client projects, the company is looking at how we can build upon our core service and drive additional growth by leveraging these capabilities in other areas. So this includes expansion of our services in such areas as biometrics, as well as developing products and tools to support precision medicine.

3:16 So to focus in on our core mathematical modelling services, so we support our clients across the drug development continuum, really as far upstream as discovery right through to the clinic. And ultimately what we do here is help them gain deeper insights from both data generated from their own internal R and D programmes, but also data in the public domain. And these insights really help our clients gain and make smart decisions when designing their research programmes, but also help them gain insights that can support them in their kind of regulatory submissions. So I won't go into each of these various areas in which we can provide support, but typically our sweet spot is around that translational phase and what I mean there is really support helping clients take their drug out of the lab from preclinical and into humans, into clinical.

4:17 Even though the main focus of the business, as I said, up to this point has been around our core mathematical modelling service, It is our strategy to build adjacent service lines and as I mentioned in my previous presentation in January, starting with biometrics. And the reason for starting off here is that this service leverages much of those kind of current expertise and capabilities we have in our core service offering. So that's around mathematics and data analysis. And the aim here is to really help focus these capabilities on a service line which we believe is potentially even more scalable than our current core service line. And the reason why we feel this new service would be potentially more scalable is because the fact of the use of biometrics is essential for so many parts of drug development and certainly for any kind of clinical trial being set up and delivered.

5:17 So this service, the aim of this is to really support companies in both designing trials through to conduct and reporting and ensuring the data which is captured is optimal for them to get the readout they're wanting from the trial. So in addition to the new service line, many of you will also be aware that we've also been developing a personalized, dosing tool, so kind of more of an asset based value add to the business. So as of last financial year, so back in June 2023, we've been able to develop an algorithm based tool to support clinical decisions on dosing chemotherapy for cancer. So really helping optimize the treatment cancer patients receive.

6:08 So much of this work to date has been funded through a variety of grants including from the Innovate UK and NIHR. And as of July 2023, some of the key announcements which we kind of released were around the completion of the partner study back in December 2022 which able to helped us confirm the ability of the tool to model timing and extent of neutropenia following chemotherapy. We also announced a partnership with a point of care business diagnostic business called Beyond Blood Diagnostic who are developing a tool that can be used to carry out those additional blood tests. Our tool need to kind of, to be used within the clinic And that tool is designed as you can see by the little picture in the top right of the screen to be portable and be able to be used within the community or primary care setting.

7:09 And then also, we have able to as we've been developing this tool, we've also been able to identify additional value of this tool and that's the use in predicting utility of an expensive biological drug, G CSF, which is used in the treatment of neutropenia. So again, this is where we are to date and I can provide in the next few slides a bit more of an update as how we're getting on with each of these programs. So focusing in on this year and how the business has performed in the first half, this slide provides those financial highlights we published in our interims just over a week ago. So as of the first six months ending the 12/31/2023, the business generated £374,000 worth of revenue, setting a record as our best first half to date and being £36,000 higher than last year.

8:12 It is important to note here, at this point in time, the mathematical modeling service line is the only revenue generating, part of the business and I see this growth really is kind of a reflection of our continued effort in this space, and our efforts kind of drive the pipeline. Total income, so this is the revenue plus income generated from grant funding is also higher than last year and operating loss is down £51,000 from the previous year, a reflection of kind of our increase in the revenues as I've just mentioned, but also optimize utilization of our kind of permanent and contractor staff and also our move to a more flexible office space late last year.

9:03 Cash and equivalents were also down £95,000 to £403,000 and shareholder funds reduced by £90,000 compared to the same period last year, really kind of as a reflection of us investing in the growth of the business.

9:23 So from a revenue perspective, as I mentioned, the first half of this year has been our best first half on record. And based on this, as well as some of the kind of progress we're already making in second half, which I'll go on to provide you a bit of detail around. We are tracking against market revenue expectations as posted by our broker, HybriDan. So that's in their research, they were predicting revenues of £850,000 and a total income of £900,000 for the year. So as you will see in the next few slides, the progress we are making, you know, good progress in the second half including kind of the, significant new contracts awarded and one we we announced earlier on today.

10:14 Again, I will point out here that, you know, these revenue figures are generated kind of purely from the mathematical modeling service line, so our core service line and therefore don't incorporate the other areas such as biometrics and personalised dosing and those revenue do not incorporate the grant in Q2.

10:37 So, looking back at perhaps some of more of the operational kind of highlights, from that first six months. So we were, pleased to have been awarded a number of sizable contracts as shown here, some of which contributed significantly to our, first half revenues, but also some like, the new map opportunity here. And that contract is projected to provide revenue, as far into 2025. We also announced, as part of our biometrics initiative, the appointment of a head of biostatistics last October, really helping us kick off the new service builds and go to market operational strategy.

11:25 And then within the personalised medicine space, we're awarded an Innovate UK grant, to support and further development of our tool. So to give you a bit more information about this grant, so this is a project led by PHYSIOMICS in collaboration with Beyond Blood Diagnostics, the partner I mentioned previously and also Black Pearl NHS Trust and this grant is, projected to run until 2025. The total award is, £570,000 of which 137,000 would be direct funding to the business. Finally, more from a business perspective, a kind of broader business perspective, two of the changes obviously I'm sat here, so myself joining the business just over six months ago, initially joining as COO, to support Jim and then recently stepping up as CEO.

12:24 And then also late last year, we also announced the, the move of offices moving from Oxus Science Park to Milton Park where we are now. So it's been a busy first half. Looking at where we are this half so far, we're pleased to announce a number of new contracts. First one is a new NUMAB contract, so this is, similar to the one we were awarded in the first half, however it supports in the client around a different asset and actually a different therapeutic area kind of focus. So the contract in the first half was focused towards dermatology and this is now oncology.

13:13 Similar to the last contract, this is also more of a long term project due to continue over the next few years, therefore really kind of helping the business kind of secure longer term revenue. We continue to progress our partnership with the University of Sheffield around developing novel oncology drug screening tool. This award was only, you know, relatively small at £45,000

13:44 but we do see this as a very positive sign for future more significant work there. Then finally, as you may have seen today, we've also been awarded a new large contract from an existing pharma client valued at over 177 ks and this is in line with a couple of other change orders which we, signed with them, to continue on and to finalize some previous projects.

14:17 Unfortunately, I can't disclose the client's name at this time but, we do see this again as positive sign in further work to come. Moving on to kind of biometrics, unfortunately at the moment we're not able to provide any further update, on biometrics but just to say this is progressing and as soon as we can provide an update, we'll be sure to do so.

14:44 And then finally, kind of personalized medicines perspective, you know, the INNOVATE grant I talked to in the previous slide is on track with the first quarter milestone now complete. A research nurse has been recruited by Blackpool NHS, who will be instrumental in helping to kind of deliver that trial and the protocol is in the final draft, close to being ready to be submitted to the regulators and the ethics body. So all going, well to plan there.

15:19 In addition to the INOVAIT grant, we've also been able to reengage with our US partner DoseMe around incorporation of our tool into their updated dosing platform and we're in discussions with them around a potential retrospective trial to help refine our tool further. And obviously as we progress those elements, we will be sure to update you all.

15:44 I won't mention I won't talk any further about my appointment as CEO, but just to say, you know, obviously there was transition for myself and Jim over the last couple of months.

16:02 So following my investor update presentation last November, I did get some positive feedback, regarding us sharing, kind of more detail around our pipeline and kind of the, active projects projects ongoing in the business. So I wanted to do the same here, just to, you know, let you know how things are progressing.

16:22 Certainly, this calendar year we've we've stepped up efforts quite significantly in our business development and marketing and and just last week we sponsored the World ADC event based in London, so that's the antibody drug conjugate event based in London where we're able to meet a number of new prospective clients and this event is just really the start of what we've got planned for the rest of the year. I think there's 10 other events which we've got targeting, so kind of a mixture of kind of business partnering and kind of more scientific events.

16:58 We're also still trying to increase awareness of PHYSIOMICS in the market with our newsletters and social media but also what, for me is exciting this year is we have a number of, scientific publications in the pipeline and these kind of peer reviewed articles are a great tool, when engaging with clients as they help us validate our expertise and the use

17:24 of mathematical modelling and quantitative pharmacology in drug development. So really important, kind of marketing tools for us. All this upfront effort is certainly helping us kind of drive our BD pipeline, and certainly the last couple of months we've been super busy talking to, new clients and writing proposals and I think this uptick in effort is certainly reflecting the size of our pipeline value

17:55 and compared to what I reported to you all back in November last year, our value has increased by, almost 500,000 from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000. I must note here that this is an unweighted pipeline value and therefore requires all of those opportunities to convert into contracts to generate that value. So you know, as I'm sure you're aware, there is a natural attrition and so we as a business are continually

18:26 looking at how we can refill the top of the pipeline to keep that overall value, kind of growing. Regarding projects currently in delivery, here in PHYSIOMICS, we have eight active projects currently being worked on at this point, and currently one, project in what we call pause phase whilst the client generates new batch of data, which is very typical for a lot of the projects which we deliver here.

18:59 So switching gears slightly towards, looking towards the future, I think I presented this slide back in January last year, and this highlights, some of our key aims around each of those service lines in the personalized medicine tool.

19:16 So our modelling service line, this will remain a key priority for us as a business. We'll continue to look to drive growth in this area as well as look at ways of kind of increasing success rates for that conversion rate. And I'll come back to this actually in my next slide how we do this. But also we're looking at this service line and how we can drive operational excellence and kind of build new capabilities. I mentioned previously about looking at expanding into different therapeutic areas which we have started to do and also looking at how we can offer our services further up the drug development continuum. About biometrics efforts, you know, are going into this to explore how we can accelerate the rollout, both developing our kind of offering kind of go to market strategy and also building the kind of operational capabilities for us to actually deliver on projects.

20:17 And then finally for the personalised medicine tool, know, we'll retain a focus on that current grant and also kind of build on kind of the existing relationships so still kind of progress our relations with DoseMe and Beyond Blood and Blackboard to really help kind of drive kind of the development of that asset.

20:45 So in addition to these aims, I've stated on the previous slide side, and since starting at the business, I've also been assessing our, operating model. So exploring ways on which we can kind of drive growth and operational efficiency across our business. And as a result of this exercise, we've identified a number of areas of, to focus. I'm presenting here kind of the most immediate, guess low hanging fruit, opportunities, but there are also some kind of more mid term areas which, I'm not presenting here which have been identified. So we'll be able to provide you updates on those, in the coming months. We're focusing initially on these immediate aims and around starting off with people.

21:37 One of the major gaps we feel we need to help drive growth in this business is around the recruitment of a permanent core modelling service line lead. So that's someone who can support both business development in growing that pipeline and going back to that increase in the conversion rate and that success rate, taking the lead in providing kind of that important solution into prospective clients. But also that person's role will provide the technical governance and support to the project delivery team helping to kind of drive the kind of operational excellence, so ensuring that we can deliver projects to time and target.

22:23 In addition to this new role, we've also started rolling out a variety of different tools within the business, so a new pricing tool to support, to ensure that we value and can price our projects effectively and also kind of project management and client management tools to really show to be sure for us to kind of be able to manage the scope of the projects and also maximize the utilization of our team.

22:56 Finally, this last few months we've also invested in, some technology. We've recently purchased a new, server and moved to new data storage and kind of data security solutions and really the aim here is to ensure that we have the right technology platform needed, to support our growth ambitions both from the core modelling, modelling service but also thinking ahead to the biometric service line.

23:28 So I'll finish off there but you know, perhaps just to summarize today's presentation before going into the Q and A section. So as reported, we've started this year off strong with record levels of kind of first half revenues. We continue to drive our business development pipeline, so increasing by almost 500,000 since November. We've been awarded three contracts and three contract extensions already in the second half.

24:03 We continue to progress our biometrics capability development and exploring ways in which we can accelerate this. As I mentioned, the Innovate UK funded trial was set up to support the kind of developments of the personalised dosing tool is progressing to plan and there are developments, some exciting developments around the DoseMe partnership. And then finally, you know, as I mentioned in the previous slide, we've also been making progress around looking at that new operating model and what we need to do as a business to position ourselves for success. So perhaps I will stop there and we can then move on to the Q and A section. Perfect. Thanks very much for your presentation. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions just by using the Q and A tab which is situated on the top right hand corner of your screen. But just while the company take a few moments for you those questions submitted today, I'd like to remind you that recording of this presentation along with a copy of the slides and the published q and a can be accessed via your investor dashboard.

25:04 We have received a number of questions both presubmitted and live. And, Jim, if I could just hand over to you just to share the q and a, that'd be great, and I'll pick up from you at the end. Yeah. Sure. Can you hear me okay, Pete? Yep. I can hear you fine, Jim. Okay. Wonderful. So we will answer as usual as many of the presubmitted questions as possible, plus any that that have come in over the course of, of course, of this, of this call. Question first question, to you, Pete, what is the most challenging aspect of being the new CEO?

25:39 Yeah. Well, look, you know, I'm still relatively new in post. I think it was the end of January when I stepped up as CEO, so I've sort of got some of that learning curve, so to speak, but I am lucky enough to have a strong team, here to support me and Jim, you remaining in the business is of great support to me as well. But I guess one of the biggest challenges, I'm facing and as you know, I hope came through my presentation, we are trying to, make some positive changes in the business and I guess one of the challenges is, is realising those changes into, added value and increased revenues. You know, for example, you know, we are investing more in going out to conferences and events to increase our BD efforts and even though we are seeing, you know, very positive signs around

26:36 the number of kind of client engagements we're having and the value of our pipeline, you know, the time it takes for that to then translate into actual contracts and revenue, it takes time. So it's, you know, it's can be challenging. It can be frustrating at times, but, I think that's certainly a challenge for us. Thanks. Thanks, Pete. I guess just to say from my perspective, you know, I think, you know, you're doing a great job so far and obviously building on on, you know, the legacy that that you've inherited. Yeah. But I think, you know, the fact that the pipeline is growing is is definitely a a significant feature since since you're joining. Obviously, we, you know, we get questions from shareholders from time to time around, you know, what is our conversion rate and, you know, we we can't be too specific about that because it will vary from time to time.

27:29 But but clearly, is a a key factor and and one that we're we're highly focused on. So another question to you Pete, what do you see as, you know, near term catalysts for the business? Yeah, so I think I touched upon this in the presentation but certainly, you know, the near term focus is still around that core modelling service and converting these opportunities into contracts, you know, ultimately driving revenue. You know, we are putting more efforts into BD and building that pipeline, as I mentioned, and also hopefully, you know, trying to tackle the success rate, the conversion rate, you know, translating those opportunities into contracts and increased revenue. I guess mid term, kind of the next twelve months, we also hope that, you know, the consulting service lines such as kind of Biostat, will start making a material contribution. Know, again, I mentioned that, all of our revenue at the moment is coming from that core service line.

28:30 So as we bring those adjacent service lines online, hopefully that will make a significant impact on business. Great. Thanks, Pete. So we had a question in relation to new contracts and in particular the fact that we kind of said, you know, watch this space a little bit earlier in the year. Yep. So, yeah, just just to comment on on new contracts, I guess. Yeah, I think we still watch this space to a large extent. You know, I hope you've seen by this presentation that there is, you know, a lot of progress, a lot of positive signs coming from the business. There's progress in our pipeline, increasing the value of our pipeline.

29:15 There's been some really exciting kind of large high value, you know, new contracts being signed. Just thinking about that pipeline, you know, there's, we are as well as increasing the value, we are moving more of those opportunities to the later stages. I think last November, looking at the breakdown of our pipeline, we had five opportunities at the kind of proposal negotiation stage, whereas, today, I think there's around about eight, at stage. You know, we continually try and kind of push these contracts as quick as we can, but, you know, often the speed in which we can do that is in the hands of our clients.

30:02 But you know, we are making progress. So there's been some really exciting contracts which we're delighted to announce. Thanks, Pete. In relation to a new UK biotech client that we announced last fall, are we able to name this client? Was the work well received? Could there be further projects with them? Yeah. Look, unfortunately, we're not able to disclose this client's name. You know, for a variety of reasons, some clients are not happy for us to disclose their names in our announcements. Every time we win a new contract, we ask our clients whether we can use their name because it's something which we quite like to do.

30:54 But you know, some companies are sensitive around announcing the fact that they are either outsourcing large projects and not progressing some of this work inside and some companies just do not want to, you know, publicize, the types of work they are performing on their assets. For this UK client specifically, the project, I can say the project did go very well, and it was actually finalized, last month. We're still in contact with them and we hope as their program advances, we hope to support them again in future. Perfect. Thanks, Pete. So we have a question asking whether we may follow in the footsteps of companies like Benevolent AI and Xcientia.

31:43 And I assume, although it's not explicitly stated, that that means we start to develop our our own drugs, which is what these companies are doing. Yeah. Exactly. So so, look, we we have no near term plans to develop our own kind of pipeline of of drugs, but, you know, this is a a common path as, you know, service based companies expands. And, you know, we will certainly be keeping this as a kind of a strategy and under review. Yeah. I mean, obviously, it it represents an interesting opportunity but sucks up a huge amount of capital. So, you know, it's definitely not something we're looking at right now. But, you know, we we will keep under review as the company grows. Yep. Okay. Let's go to this one. So this is a question in relation to position that we've advertised recently for principal consultant head of modeling.

32:42 And the question relates to whether to what extent that overlaps with work that our consultant, Doctor. Mystery does for us? You know, are there any implications for the business in the short term and going forwards? Look, I think, you know, Hitesh is continues to work with and support PHYSIOMICS, but you know, as I mentioned in my presentation, we feel that as a business, we need a permanent in house team member, to really help providers that can come in capacity and better position us for growth. You know, supporting our business development efforts with that whole solution and being a technical, an expert and leading those discussions as well as supporting the operations and deliver projects effectively.

33:38 Thanks, Pete. There's a question on our relationship with DoseMe, which I guess I'll take in relation to, you know, whether we're continuing to work with them on our docetaxel other personalized dosing tools. You know, the short answer is yes. You know, you recall that we did some market testing of of of our tool implemented on their platform last year and that the the the feedback was positive. But the challenges were, you know, taking those extra blood tests, which we're now addressing partly through our relationship with the Beyond Blood Diagnostics, as Pete mentioned earlier. But, also, you know, the feedback was that although docetaxel is interesting, know, if we could say something about how and under what circumstances G CSF should be used, then that would be even more interesting still.

34:35 And so, you know, as a result of that, as we've said previously, you know, we applied for one, you know, a very substantial Innovate UK grant, which started at the end of last year. And one of the very specific objectives that grant is to gather more data in order to look at whether we can expand the tool to be able to be more predictive of the value of G CSF. And we're doing that through Innovate UK, but we're also in discussion with with around whether or not, you know, that there may be some way we can work with them to to gather more data, to develop this tool further. So, you know, at the risk of saying watch this space again, please watch this space.

35:24 So another question in relation to fundraising. You know, there's a question that is essentially you know, we raised some cash last summer and what proportion of this money has been used. You know, to be honest, we're we're not gonna comment in in detail about, you know, how many thousands of pounds have been used for for which purpose. All I would, you know, just point out other than saying that our numbers are obviously in the public domain very, very much so. The purposes of that fundraise were the main purposes were expansion and diversification of our client base, you know, and and indeed, as Pete highlighted, we we we have done that.

36:09 Expansion of the consulting business into adjacent service areas, which is ongoing, an exploration of further opportunities relating to personalized medicine. You know, I guess a couple of specific, you know, facts, you know, about a third of our revenue in this recently reported period was was from new clients and around, you know, not far short of half, around about 40% of the opportunities in the pipeline currently also from, you know, from new potential clients. So, you know, we really feel we've made some progress in terms of expanding the client base. And, obviously, in terms of personalized medicine, you know, we were able to apply some of the funds that we raised last summer to our grant application, which, you know, which we won and and was announced just before Christmas. So, you know, I do believe that we've, you know, started to deliver on those three objectives, and the the capital raised for those purposes was was certainly contributing factor.

37:14 Another question about advisory board meetings. Do we still have them? Should we report on them? I guess just to say that, you know, we do hold advisory boards, but only on a on an ad hoc basis. So they're not regular events, and they tend to be focused more on our asset based plays such as the personalized dosing tool. We will continue to have them from time to time, but they don't generally relate to the to the core business core consulting business of the company. And, you know, we will, in all likelihood, not not report in detail on on their, you know, their outcomes. They're they're more for internal guidance. So that's the answer to that question.

38:03 There is a question in relation to what our market expectations. Maybe I'll just take that one as well. You know? Yep. When we say market expectations, we we essentially mean, you know, the guidance that's provided by by our broker hybrid Dan. And, you know, that is that, you know, currently, we're expected to deliver around 900,000 of of total income. So that's revenue plus grant income in the current financial year. So that's what we mean when we say we're continuing to to trade in line with market expectations. Obviously, that, you know, that that benchmark may change from time to time. I don't believe it's changed recently. And and, you know, that that would come through additional notes published by by Hybrid. We have two questions on ValorX.

38:59 One is that we have a close working relationship with the team at ValorX. And although we can't comment on that company, do we think we're we're there are any issues with our association with them given the various things that are going on there at the moment? You know, I think the short answer is no. I don't think there's any issues. You know, we we have had a a close relationship with Valorex over the years. We've worked with them, you know, some time ago, which led to the value sharing agreement, which which we've discussed on several occasions. But our financial and operational success is is not dependent on what happens at Valor ValorX. You know, I do wish them all the best going forwards and and hope to see them emerge as a a a strong and successful company going forwards.

39:49 Second question on that similar topic in relation to value based deals or value sharing deals, you know, can we confirm that the the deal relating to some of ValorX's assets where we get a, you know, a royalty effectively on any licensing revenue from those assets is still active. And are there any other such deals, you know, in in discussion? So answering the first part of that question, yes, it's still active. There there's been no change on that front, although it's obviously subject to to ValorX closing a licensing deal with with the relevant assets. And the second part of that question, you know, we're always on the lookout for creative ways to to to enter into agreements with companies, but, you know, the majority of our our agreements will remain, you know, traditional, you know, consulting fee for service agreements.

40:47 If we see an opportunity to do something smart, then we will certainly take that. There's a question about the difference between RNSs and RNS reaches. I have a feeling that this one's come up before and and does in fact come up on quite a regular basis. It it's so the question is why does some go out as RNSs, other go out as RNS reach and what are the cost implications if any? Pete, maybe you want to take this one? Yeah, I can take this one. So, you know, as I'm sure many of you are aware, regulatory news service RNS is is an important tool for companies like PHYSIOMICS to update investors around kind of important news and around the business. When information is price sensitive, so such as kind of financial results or being awarded kind of a large significant contracts.

41:41 So these are typically posted as RNSs whereas kind of more the non price sensitive kind of news goes out typically as RNS reached, such as kind of informing you all of such events such as today, such as like the IMC presentation. There is a small charge, for these announcements, by the London Stock Exchange, for each of the kind of the new releases. However, we're not guided around, the kind of the cost of the announcement. We're really guided around what we are announcing, if if that makes sense. Yeah. And we're we're we're also advised by our known ad, obviously Yeah. In terms of whether a particular announcement should go out via one channel or the other. But irrespective of whether it's an RNS or a reach, you know, they all end up on our website, on the RNS news service, and for usually also on on, you know, the social media platform formerly known as as Twitter.

42:48 So another question for you, Pete, which I think I I've been accused of having dodged in the past. Do you feel that PHYSIOMICS is undervalued and and, you know, can you comment on that? Yeah, I may have to dodge this too. Unfortunately, can't comment on the value of the business, but you know, I can comment on the reason why I joined PHYSIOMICS. You know, I do, you know, truly believe that the business has enormous value. You know, there's increasing regulatory pressures on drug development companies to use those kind of such services we offer, in drug development and, you know, thinking about the business and kind of growing the business, I'm not shy to kind of build on what has been done before, and explore different strategies.

43:40 So, you know, I think the company has got, you know, a huge potential. But whether it's undervalued or not, unfortunately, I I I have to dodge that one as well. Okay. Thanks, Pete. So there's a question about share options here. Let me just pause it for you. So we do issue share options from time to time supposedly to align employees with shareholders. Is there any proof that this works? That's a tough one to answer. I would say that most companies, you know, and most sort of, you know, people's understanding of financial theory suggests that share options are a a good way to align, you know, management behavior with with shareholder interests.

44:26 I think we would agree with that. I I don't think we abuse that system. You know, we don't issue share options very frequently. They're always at at least market. You know, some of Pete's were above market as well in terms of strike price. And, also, I think you have to balance the issuance of, you know, the incentivization versus, you know, long term means such a share options with with core salaries, which remain, relatively modest at PHYSIOMICS. So we think that we've got the balance about right there. Should we go to a couple of the questions that came in during our presentation? So, Pete, if you wanna think about that that first one, I'll answer the other two while while you just have a think about the one that's specifically directed at you there.

45:13 But in terms of the other two so so one is asking how we know whether we're charging clients an appropriate amount for each contract and not undervaluing the work that we do. That's a great question, actually. And and we do actually spend a certain amount of effort to to try and understand, you know, our pricing model versus our competitors. Obviously, very often that, you know, pricing is not available, you know, directly on competitive websites, but we've got plenty of, you know, informal ways in which we can do competitive intelligence. And, you know, whether that be against other modeling companies or other companies that provide similar sort of professional services to r and d based biotechs and pharma companies.

46:00 We have increased our prices, you know, over the course of the last year or eighteen months as we see other companies having done, you know, taken similar stance. And we feel that we're, you know, we're we're positioned about right. But, of course, you know, we we we're also smart when we when we enter into contract negotiations and, you know, I can't remember ever having walked away from a contract, you know, where a client has come back and and asked us to give them, you know, a a modest discount. So there's always room for flexibility in negotiation, but we do think we have a reasonable handle on this and that we, you know, that we're we're we're we're about right at the moment. Second question that I'll take before I hand back to Pete would be, you know, do we expect to receive further grants to support our growth? You know, this is just something that we constantly keep under review.

46:52 Obviously, pretty much all of the grants that we've received, you know, during my tenure here have been in the, you know we've applied them to our personalized medicine initiatives, and that's unlikely to change, you know, in in the immediate future. Clearly, we're only just starting off with the current Innovate UK funded grant study, but but that doesn't stop us constantly horizon scanning and looking for, you know, other other possible grant opportunities. So that's a that's a an ongoing thing. Question specifically to Pete. It says, welcome. Pete's got a track record of business development. Will he be overseeing business development at PHYSIOMICS? And, you know, to what extent will your Rolodex, you know, from your previous roles, Pete, be relevant in in helping to expand the the the the the the pipeline?

47:52 Do you think that that's already, you know, that that that's already happened or is there there more to come, going forwards on that? Look, I think, you know, since starting at, PHYSIOMICS, one of the the first areas I I wanted to focus my my efforts towards was supporting our head of business development, in, you know, looking at how we can grow our pipeline, how we can better engage with, new clients, and also implement the kind of the necessary tools and marketing materials to do so. Is this what's increasing the pipeline? I'd like to think so. I'm not taking the full credit for that though, you know, I think head office development has been doing a great job in growing that side of the business.

48:50 I will continue supporting her as we move forward as well as looking at kind of other areas such as the principal role we mentioned that can help support business development. Regarding my networks, yeah, it's always useful to have kind of some links into some of the kind of the big pharmaceutical companies that I have, but also, I think certainly what I can bring to the business is, the kind of the broader networks which I call kind of almost the business development kind of community, across The UK and further which helps us engage through like a second secondary kind of person into a into a company.

49:39 You know, an example of that is, I worked very closely previously with, UK Department of International Trade and through them, we can then engage with with other people with the company. So, yeah, I I you know, we'll keep on focusing and supporting business development with we've grown our pipeline. Great. Thanks, Pete. And and then so I think that's all the questions that came in during the presentation. So just finally, that there were a couple of questions on, as one might expect, on on the share price and the value of the company. Similar questions put in various different ways. The thrust being, you know, you know, what are we doing about it? What's gonna happen going forwards? Do we feel like the company, you know, is is turning a corner?

50:28 And, you know, what is the reason to believe? So, you know, again, just to summarize and at the risk of repeating some of the things that we've said already, you know, here's why I believe. You know, on the core business, the pipeline's expanding. We're working hard on conversion rates. We are significantly diversifying the business, as we've said, over the course of the last the last six to twelve months. We've added new clients. We're also looking to add positions to the business which are chargeable positions. So not more management, but more people who can do and support the doing of the projects. On the personalized medicine front, we've we've won, you know, an enormous, I think, our largest ever Innovate UK grant and probably the largest grant, you know, that we've participated in of any nature recently.

51:26 We continue in dialogue with DoseMe, The US, our US partner, looking for ways to opportunities to to try and commercialize our our personalized dosing assets in The US. And, also, in parallel with all of that, we are very actively looking to expand our horizons in terms of the sorts of consulting work that we do. And then last but not least, you know, I'm I'm very excited to be working with with Pete now who's, you know, highly experienced new CEO that that brings a lot of very relevant skills to the table. And alongside of that, we've we've restructured the board in order to support Pete and and support the company. So, you know, we feel like things are moving in the right direction, and we, you know, we're we very much hope that that will be reflected in in the share price going forwards.

52:18 So listen. I'm gonna, I think, call an end to the meeting at that point. There are no further questions that have come in. Hopefully, we addressed the vast majority of those that were submitted prior to the meeting. Just to thank you all very much for your support of the company and for your attention today. Thank you. Perfect. Peter, Jim, thank you for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close this session? I shall now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that the management team can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete, but some should be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of PHYSIOMICS PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and good afternoon to you all.